LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Correspondence  of 

Thomas  Ebenezer  Thomas 


MAINLY  RELATING  TO  THE 

ANTI-SLAVERY  CONFLICT  IN  OHIO, 

ESPECIALLY    IN    THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


PUBLISHED  BY  HIS  SON. 


1909 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS. 


"The  truth,  which  in  our  case,  has  been  the  suffering  truth,  has 
certain  paramount  rights ;  among  these,  the  right  to  assert  itself 
to  Jt>e  the  truth,  and  to  have  always  been  the  truth." 

— E.  D.  MacMaster. 


"The  true  Hie  of  a  man  is  in  his  letters. 
....  Not  only  for  the  interest  of  a  'biogra 
phy,  but  for  arriving  at  the  inside  of  things, 
the  publication  of  letters  is  the  true  method. 
Biographers  varnish,  they  assign  motives,  they 
conjecture  feelings,  they  interpret  Lord  Bur- 
leigh's  nods;  but  contemporary  letters  arc 

facts."—  DR.  NEWMAN  to  his  sister,  May  18,  1863. 


The  notes  in  this  volume,  mostly  biographical,  are  written 
by  ALFRED  A.  THOMAS. 


PREFACE. 

The  reason  why  these  pages  are  now  put  in  print  appears  below: 

"PROF.  ALFRED  H.  UPHAM, 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  recall  the  meeting  of  the  Dayton  Miami  Alumni,  when  you  came 
last,  and  read  a  few  pages  of  what  some  one  prepared  to  publish  for  the 
coming  Centennial  in  June.  You  should  have  come  first  ;  for  we  all  wished 
to  hear  what  you  had  no  due  time  to  read.  I  want  a  copy  of  the  few 
pages  you  read  ;  it  touches  matters  that  I  have  long  had  an  interest  in. 

I  may  mail  you  some  information  relating  to  the  subject,  or  print 
and  send  it  to  you. 

With  much  respect,  I  beg  to  remain, 

Very  truly, 

A.  A.  THOMAS," 


17,  1809  gun*  12-17,  1909 

Tte  Centennial  0f  ^fttiami  ^Unraersiig 
(Dxfnrd,  (Dhin 


Uxrinl  <£0tmniii;e;e  xm 
Trustees,  Alumni  anil  HJnhx;ersiig 


©^airman,  £.  #.  ^tyftam,  ©xfxxrxl, 
&etr;eiar£,  ^B.  S.  33arlt0ttx,  Hamilton, 

April  22,  1909. 
A.  A.  THOMAS,  ESQ., 

Dayton,  Ohio. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  chapter  to  which  you  referred  so  kindly  in 
your  letter.  The  entire  MSS.  of  the  book  is  now  in  the  printer's  hands, 
and  I  hope  that  the  completed  work  will  measure  up  to  the  idea  you  have 
formed  of  this  first  chapter. 

Very  truly  yours, 

A.  H.  Upham." 

The  completed  publication  of  the  Centennial  Committee  of  Miami 
University  I  have  not  seen:  all  presumptions  are  in  its  favor.  Most  of 
what  appears  in  its  Chapter  I,  on  "Pioneer  Days,"  is  well  enough  ;  but 
through  the  concluding  pages  there  runs  a  vein  of  ridicule;  and  they 


present,  I  submit,  no  fair  picture  of  the  character,  quality  and  record  of 
the  first  three  Presidents,  and  of  two  of  the  Professors  of  the  first 
twenty-five  years  of  the  University's  life. 

"At  the  head  of  the  list  stands  the  somewhat  rawboned  and  ungainly 
figure  of  President  Bishop."  *  *  *  He  had  many  friends,  high  cheek  bones 
and  friendly  eyes.  Both  he  and  President  E.  D.  MacMaster,  later,  had  "the 
mantle  of  authority  stripped  from  shoulders  not  yet  stooped  with  age," 
and  because  they  could  not  maintain  discipline.  *  *  *  Prof.  William  H. 
McGuffey  had  "two  passions  which  consumed  his  young  life, — the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  and  the  education  of  the  child-mind."  He  was  "a  cold,  unap 
proachable  man  who  wanted  his  students  to  drill  every  morning  in  public 
oratory  at  5 : 00  A.  M."  *  *  *  He  wore  "a  stove  pipe  hat  and  a  solemn  suit 
of  shining  black  bombazine;  and  the  Darrtown  congregation  that  he  sup 
plied,  were  impressed  by  the  glassy  sheen  of  his  garments." 

When  Doctor  Scott  returned  from  "Carey's  premature  project  of  the 
Farmer's  College."  "Ben  Harrison  was  in  his  train  when  Doctor  S. 
gathered  about  them  a  circle  of  demure  and  bewitching  maidens."  *  *  * 

"At  this  time,  the  extreme  abolitionists  were  lifting  up  their  voices 
throughout  the  land.  A  part  of  them  in  the  Presbyterian  church  de 
manded  the  immediate  exclusion  of  all  slave-holding  members.  Doctor 
Junkin  demurred.  He  was  a  staunch  union  man,  and  personally  opposed 
to  slavery,  but  he  believed  that  emancipation  should  come  by  slow  and 
gradual  process,  based  on  a  scheme  of  deportation.  In  a  session  of  Pres 
bytery,  he  expressed  himself  succinctly  in  a  few  well-chosen  words  re 
quiring  some  ten  hours  in  their  delivery  and  at  once  a  new  enemy  camped 
at  his  gates.  A  man  who  took  ten  blessed  hours  to  prove  that  slave-holding 
Southerners  would  find  their  names  recorded  on  the  Book  of  Life  was 
not  fit  custodian  of  their  children's  characters,  said  the  abolitionists.  The 
allied  opposition  was  too  much  for  Doctor  Junkin  and  he  withdrew." 

"At  Miami,  Doctor  Jnnkiu  was  succeeded  by  an  ardent  abolitionist, 
Erasmus  D.  MacMaster."*  *  *  "He  was  a  very  painful  preacher,  and 
his  ponderous  antitheses  and  periods  searched  the  heart  of  weighty  ques 
tions  as  they  deliberately  rolled  from  his  tongue."  *  *  *  * 

Troubles  followed.  *  *  *  "But  now  the  work  was  ruined,  the  student 
body  scattered,  and  the  institution  crippled.  The  splendid  spirit  of  Doctor 
MacMaster  was  broken  for  the  time,  and  he  retired  from  the  University. 
With  the  brilliant,  popular  and  prosperous  administration  of  President 
Anderson,  Miami  entered  on  her  second  quarter  century  of  active  life, 
secure,  efficient,  optimistic.  Pioneering  days  were  done  forever." 

I  have  condensed  from  various  pages,  but  the  reader  will  have  the 
official  publication,  to  test  or  verify  the  substantial  accuracy  of  my  quo 
tations. 

"Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  that  thy  days  may  be  long  in  the 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  has  given  thee." 

That  is  a  commandment  to  be  remembered  by  more  persons  than 
escaped  Presbyterians  like  me.  On  Centennial  birthdays,  it  should  be 
remembered  by  quasi-public  corporations  for  educational  purposes. 


Thomas  E.  Thomas  was  graduated  at  Miami  in  the  class  of  1834, 
after  having  been  there  five  years.  In  1892,  his  sons  prepared  for  publi 
cation,  with  notes  written  by  them,  what  appears  on  the  title  page  of  this 
volume.  It  had  an  introduction  by  the  Rev.  S.  F.  Scovel,  D.  D.,  then 
President  of  Wooster  University. 

The  MSS.  was  laid  aside  "  for  the  ninth  ripening  year :"  then  it  was 
considered  by  his  sons  and  grandsons,  and  the  conclusion  reached  not 
to  publish.  "Everybody  is  dead,  and  the  sons  and  daughters  do  not 
care  for  such  matters." 

This  chapter  on  "Pioneer  Days"  made  me  open  and  read  that  box 
of  dusty  papers.  Dr.  Thomas's  sons  have  published  no  book  and  do  not 
know  how  to  edit  one.  But  Doctors  Bishop,  MacMaster,  and  Scott,  and 
Professor  McGuffey  too,  were  my  father's  friends:  I  feel  I  hold  a  brief  to 
their  memory,  and  now  is  the  time  to  print  it. 

Only  a  third  part  of  these  MSS.  and  letters  are  here  published.  The 
reader  who  cares  for  Miami  only  must  excuse  a  somewhat  awkward  pre 
sentation  of  matter  prepared  for  another  purpose.  Material  for  an  ade 
quate  history  of  the  anti-slavery  conflict  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
of  the  early  days  of  Miami  University  too,  still  exists  in  the  homes  of 
her  early  graduates :  and  here  is  some  contribution  for  the  use  of  whoever 
in  the  future,  will  come,  able  and  ready  to  tell  the  story. 

The  awkwardness  above  confessed  lies  in  part  in  inability  to  exclude 
closely  interwoven  matter  which  does  not  relate  to  Miami  University. 
As  I  rely  also  much  on  the  testimony  of  my  father,  a  few  addi 
tional  letters  of  his  are  given,  of  use  here  only  to  exhibit  his  character 
as  a  witness,  and  competency  to  express  an  opinion. 

The  liberty  has  been  taken,  also,  to  add  one  or  two  brief  letters  to 
Dr.  Thomas  from  his  mother.  Some  may  think  to  do  so  is  impertinent; 
that  when  they  see  a  treetop,  they  know  all  about  it,  regardless  of  what 
soil  its  roots  run  down  into. 

These  "Notes",  written  seventeen  years  ago,  in  so  far  as  they  men 
tion  contemporary  living  persons,  are  not  up  to  date.  This  is  necessarily 
so,  for  my  brother,  the  Rev.  John  H.  Thomas,  is  dead,  and  I  am  not  up 
to  date  myself. 

I  know  too  little  to  criticize  Miami  University  during  the  past  twenty 
years ;  but  enough  to  believe  it  is  doing  creditably  a  most  practical  work, 
and  in  fulfillment  of  the  high  aims  of  its  founders.  Dr.  Benton  is  a 
worthy  successor  of  Miami's  early  presidents;  and  his  faculty  and  helpers 
deserve  the  respect  of  all  who  have  inherited  a  love  of  Miami.  That  the 
compiler  of  this  Centennial  memorial  should  fall  into  some  error  is  the 
fault  of  those  who  have  withheld  data  needed  to  give  true  lines  to  the 
picture.  Only  one  side  of  a  contention  has  been  told :  it  was  as  if  a 
case  half  argued  had  gone  by  default.  Dr.  Junkin's  biography  by  his 
brother  is  the  authority  generally  at  hand,  and  the  story  of  the  Seminaries 
by  Dr.  Halsey,  is  as  fair  as  possible,  when  he  omits  what  he  wished  had 
not  been  done  or  said. 

In  fact,  at  an  early  date,  no  small  group  of  friends  realized  the 
consequence  of  these  conditions:  they  met  at  Oxford  and  deputed  Dr. 
Thornton  A.  Mills  to  give  an  address  on  Dr.  Bishop,  and  my  father  to 


, 

write  his  biography ;  Dr.  jft  did  his  task  well :  my  father  gathered  inade 
quate  but  salient  material :  I  hold  a  crumbling  memorandum  sent  him  from 
Crawfordsville  in  1855,  by  Rev.  John  Thomson,  founder  of  Wabash  College, 
who  gathered  with  filial  hand,  in  bound  pamphlets,  Dr.  Bishop's  many 
publications,  during  twenty  years  in  Kentucky ;  the  paper  ends  thus : 

"May  the  Lord  prosper  your  endeavors  to  keep  the  grace  of  God  shed 
upon  that  man  from  being  forgotten  as  if  hid  under  a  bushel. 

Your  brother  in  the  best  of  bonds, 

John  Thomson. 

P.  S.  Opportunity  to  send  the  books  sooner  failed ;  and  I  had  to  wait 
to  get  some  person  going  that  I  could  trust.  It  would  cost  fifty  cents  to 
send  the  books  by  the  cars." 

If  one  now  can  read  between  the  lines  of  these  letters,  "res  angusta 
domi"  he  will  learn  in  part  why  the  writers  did  not  make  due  publica 
tion  of  what  they  knew  justice  to  their  memories  might  require  in  years 
to  come. 

ALFRED   A.    THOMAS. 
Dayton,  Ohio,  May  1909. 


In  1892  Dr.  S.  F.  Scovel  wrote  an  introduction  for  a  publi 
cation  of,  this  Correspondence.  As  over  half  of  the  letters  are 
not  now  printed,  I  take  the  liberty  to  append  these  paragraphs 
only,  of  what  he  wrote. 

PART  OF  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 
BY  DR?  SCOVEL. 

There  are  two  elements  in  the  book,  the  biographical  and 
the  autobiographical,  the  one  in  the  notes  and  the  other  in  the 
letters.  It  is  high  praise  to  say  that  the  first  is  worthy  of  the 
second.  Evidently  no  pains  have  been  spared  to  bring  together 
most  valuable  information  concerning  the  authors  of  the  corre 
spondence,  and  to  supply  side  lights  wherever  necessary.  The 
judgments  expressed,  for  which  the  author  of  the  notes  is  re 
sponsible,  are  worthy  of  attention  even  from  those  who  might  be 
inclined  to  differ  here  or  there.  They  are,  in  general,  as  kindly 
meant  as  they  are  decided.  The  book  would  be  much  less  useful 
than  it  promises  to  be  without  these  addenda. 

1.  We  need  wait  no  longer  for  the  perspective  of  time.  Nearly 
sixty  years  (1834-93)  is  time-distance  enough.    The  main  results 
are  now  so  plain  we  cannot  mistake  the  outlines  of  judgment 
concerning  those  whose  travail  of  soul  had  so  much  to  do  with 
the  latter  birth  of  great  events. 

2.  The  period  covered  by  this  correspondence  imparts  to 
it  a  unique  interest.     Earlier  the  work  here  related  could  not 
have  been  done.    Later  would  have  been  too  late.    A  little  away 
from   the  actual  pioneer  work  which  had  either  been   already 
accomplished   or   was   being   carried   forward   by   others,    these 
actors  were  called  to  the  noble  task  of  moulding  a  sentiment 
which  should  be  able  to  resist  the  gathering  force  of  avarice 
stimulated  by  gain  and  then  re-enforced  by  fundamental  misread 
ing  of  our  national  Constitution,  and  by  deplorably  mistaken 
exegesis  of  the  Scriptures. 

3.  No   one  can   read   this   volume   without   being  touched 
with  what  he  must  read  (mainly  between  the  lines  and  by  fewest 
hints)    concerning  the  self-denial  with  which  every  step  of  the 
anti-slavery  propaganda  was  accompanied.     The  money  seemed 
all  to  have  a  pro-slavery  ring  about  it.    Small  incomes  and  young 
families  made  plain  living  with  this  high  thinking.    But  even  so, 
generosity  and  justice  went  hand  in  hand.    To  help  students,  to 
hold  meetings,  to  print  appeals,  to  sustain  journals,  to  attend 
Conventions — the  money  to  do  all  these  things  was  found  by 
some  means  or  other.     And  this  was  done  for  years  and  done 
when  a  far  different  thing  and  the  more  comfortable  thing  might 
have  been  done. 

4.  Never  were  better  illustrations  furnished  of  the  perplex 
ities  of  good  men  as  to  methods.     Common  aims  do  not  bring 


always  unity  as  to  instrumentalities.  In  this  correspondence 
emerge  the  ever-recurring  questions  of  third-party  organization, 
of  protesting  secession  from  the  church,  of  the  minister's  rela 
tion  to  moral  questions  in  politics,  the  advisability  of  special 
organs  against  the  more  widely  diffused  ordinary  press,  the  em 
ployment  of  agents  and  the  rank  of  men  who  can  be  persuaded 
to  enter  upon  such  work.  They  seemed  to  encounter  these  diffi 
culties  with  skill  born  of  sincerity  in  a  common  and  controlling 
purpose.  In  the  light  of  subsequent  events  they  seem  to  have 
decided  wisely.  They  were  widely  separated  (considering  the 
circumstances)  and  yet  they  wrought  efficiently  as  is  proven  by 
the  substantial  unity  maintained  in  their  churches. 

5.  Nothing  is  more   noticeable  than   the   wise,   temperate 
and  earnestly  religious  appeals  for  action  against  slavery  which 
were  put  forth  during  these  years.     They  observed  as  careful 
a  balance  in  motives  as  they  did  in  means.    They  were  not  Garri- 
sonians,  nor  unbelievers  of  any  type.     They  professed  and  ad 
vocated  only  such  motives  as  grew  out  of  love  to  God  and  man. 
They  refuted  the  slanders  sometimes  uttered  against  the  religion 
of  Christ,  even   when  they  were  called   to   rebuke  the  fearful 
apostasy   of   many   professed   Christians,   and   the   apathy   and 
finally  the  complicity  of  the  larger  portion  of  the  Church   of 
Christ. 

6.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  they  found  in  the  Scrip 
tures  the  very  help  they  needed  when  it  seemed  the  arch-con 
trivance  of  the  wicked  one  to  wrest  this  from  them.  They  fed 
their  faith  on  its  promises  to  the  poor  and  oppressed  as  they 
wrestled  against  its  perversion  into   a  bulwark  of  oppression. 
They  vindicated  its  teaching  and  then   leaned  upon  its  assur 
ances.    They  had  that  sublime  confidence  in  God,  amid  unnum 
bered  difficulties  and  frequent  reverses,  wrhich  showed  that  they 
"had  been  with  Jesus".     They  surely  had  "fainted"  except  as 
they  believed.     Dr.  Thomas's  oft-repeated  "The  Lord  reigneth", 
was  earlier  than   Garfield's  utterance  in  New   York  after  the 
assassination  of  1865,  "God  reigns  and  the  government  at  Wash 
ington  still  lives". 

7.  If   any   say    that   the   little   things   indicating   aroused 
feeling  and  differing  judgment  among  men  now  passed  on  to 
gether  to  the  better  world,  ought  not  to  be  preserved  in  print, 
there  is  at  least  this  justification — that  nothing  great  will  ever 
be  accomplished  by  imperfectly  sanctified  instrumentalities  with 
out  "much  disputation".    We  are  still  in  the  twilight  and  have 
our  work  to  do  under  essentially  the  same  conditions  as  those 
which  they  knew.    We  may  learn  from  them  on  all  sides.    And, 
surely,  the  lesson  cannot  be  missed  in  these  records  that  we  are 
to  be  tolerant  and  patient  and  in  honor  esteeming  others  better 

than  ourselves.  _    0        , 

Sylvester  F.  Scovel. 

Wooster  University,  Ohio, 
December  25, 1892. 


To 
THOMAS  H.  THOMAS. 

If  for  lack  of  literary  skill,  which  the  writer 
wants  in  compiling  this  volume,  his  defense  of  Dr. 
Bishop  fails;  the  grandson  of  Thomas  E.  Thomas 
must  take  the  matter  up.  You  have  the  precedent 
for  sixty  year  intervals.  But  get  ready:  tell  your 
son  the  duty  inheres  in  our  family,  and  runs  by 
primogeniture.  I  bid  him  go  to  the  next  Centennary 
at  Miami  University,  and  rub  off  any  moss  that  »may 
have  gathered  over  the  memory  of  her  first  President. 


INTERPOLATION. 

SOMETHING  TO  REMEMBER  AT  MIAMI'S  CENTENNIAL. 


Dartmouth  for  years  was  a  measley  college.  With  a  motto, 
"Vox  clamantis  in  deserto,"  it  started  as  a  mission  school  for 
Indians,  and  failed,  as  the  Oxford  students'  early  mission  band 
"failed"  when  trying  to  Christianize  Indians  on  the  Wabash. 
Indeed,  for  more  than  thirty  years  there  was  little  to  it  but  noble 
effort  and  small  results.  Like  Miami,  it  had  only  land  which 
was  sold  for  no  price;  and  had  neither  dormitories,  nor  appara 
tus,  nor  any  library  but  theological  discards  from  English 
homes.  Except  for  persistency  as  a  fighter,  Dr.  Bishop  was  a 
greater  man  than  Dr.  Eleazer  Wheelock,  the  first  President  of 
Dartmouth, — greater  in  nearly  all  things  that  Wheelock  was 
good  in.  Wealth  and  culture  too,  avoided  Hanover,  for  the 
coast  region  where  it  felt  more  respectable.  Such  conditions 
cause  a  "lack  of  discipline."  The  students  loaded  a  4th  of 
July  cannon  and  blew  in  the  chapel  door,  and  were  "dissatisfied" 
when  fined  for  repairs.  In  infancy,  Sovereign  States  have  small 
maternal  instinct  for  educational  brats,  no  matter  how  honor 
ably  begotten.  The  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  took  a  hand, 
and  ousted  the  corporation  with  old  Wheelock  on  top  of  it,  and 
put  in  its  own  appointees.  They  said  as  Matthew  Arnold  did 
of  Lincoln,  "He  lacked  distinction,"  and  took  possession  of  near 
ly  everything  except  the  corporation  seal  which  Wheelock  carried 
on  his  person.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  confirmed  the 
ouster.  Then  old  Dr.  Wheelock  thought  of  a  graduate  who  was 
poor  when  the  college  was  poor;  but  born  in  a  log  cabin  him 
self,  was  not  ashamed  of  the  humble  conditions  of  his  alma 
mater.  This  alumnus,  not  yet  much  known,  took  the  case.  In 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Daniel  Webster  in 
great  argument,  wrung  from  the  court  a  decision  that  saved  the 
college,  and  has  been  complained  of  as  a  permanent  obstruction 
in  the  jurisprudence  of  this  country. 

The  attorneys  for  the  State  spoke  of  Dartmouth  as  "not 
amounting  to  much  anyhow."  Webster  closed  his  peroration 
by  replying,  "They  say  this  is  a  little  college,  but  there  are 
those  who  love  it," — then  he  could  not  go  on.  When  he  saw  the 
kind  face  of  the  Chief  Justice  beaming  upon  him,  he  turned  and 
added,  "and  now  when  she  is  standing  like  Caesar  in  the  Senate 
House,  and  these  men  reiterating  stab  upon  stab,  I  would  not 
for  my  life  have  her  turn  to  me  and  exclaim,  "Et  tu,  quoque,  mi 
fill." 


New  Hampshire's  lawyers  were  concerned  to  notice  that  John 
Marshall's  eyes  were  misty  so  he  could  not  read.  They  after 
wards  complained  Webster  had  "unfairly  influenced  the  court." 
In  fact,  they  were  "hoist  by  their  own  petard." 

Founded  as  claimed  in  1769,  in  the  first  twenty-five  years, 
Dartmouth  accomplished  far  less  than  Miami  did.  Doctor 
Eleazer  Wheelock  is  now  one  of  the  honored  men  in  New  Eng 
land  college  annals.  His  name  would  never  be  heard  of  but 
for  one  thing.  He  trained  up  a  student  who  was  able  to  protect 
him  in  his  need,  as  Dr.  Bishop  did  not. — A.  A.  T.,  May,  1909. 


CHRONOLOGY  ANTI-SLAVERY  CONTEST. 

1836.     Pro-Slavery    mobs    in    Cincinnati    destroyed    James    G.    Birney's 
presses,  and  threatened  him. 

1840.  Harrison  elected  President. 

1845.  Annexation  of  Texas. 
1846-8.  War  with  Mexico. 

1850.  Fugitive  slave  law  passed. 

1854.  Missouri  compromise  repealed. 

1856.  Fremont  nominated  for  President. 

1857.  Dred  Scott  decision. 

1857.  Lecompton  Constitution  adopted;  and  struggle  in  Kansas. 

1858.  Debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas. 

1860.  Lincoln  nominated. 

1861.  Bombardment  of  Fort  Sumpter. 

1866.     Secty.    of    State    Seward,    formally   announces    final    extinction    of 
slavery  in  United  States. 

In  Round  Numbers,  THE  LIBERTY-FREE  SOIL-vote  was  or  became 
as  follows: 

1840 Birney     7,100 

1844 Birney 62,300 

IVan  Buren       t 
300,000 
Gerrit  Smith    ) 

1852 John  P.  Hale 155,900 

1856 Fremont 1,341,000 

1860 Lincoln    .  1,900,000 


MIAMI  UNIVERSITY. 

Dates  connected  with  matters  in   this   correspondence. 
» 

1809.  Legislative  act  establishes  Miami  University. 

1810.  Legislature  directed  college  to  be  located. 
1817.     University  organizing  and  buildings  going  up. 

1823.  Main  buildings  completed. 

1824.  Faculty    organized.     Prof.    Bishop,    then    Vice-President    and    Pro 

fessor    of    Nat.    Philosophy    of    Transylvania    University  elected 
President.    College  opening  in  November  with  twenty  students. 

1825.  President  Bishop  inaugurated. 

1826.  Wm.  H.  McGuffey  chosen  Professor  of  Languages,  Philosophies,  and 

General  Criticism. 

1828.  John  W.  Scott  elected  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Nat.  Philoso 

phy. 

1829.  Thos.  E.  Thomas  entered  Miami:  graduated  in  class  1834. 

1832.     Professors  Sam'l  W.   McCracken  and  Thomas  Armstrong  began. 

1836.     Professor  McGuffey  resigned.     Succeeding  year   Samuel  Galloway, 
Chauncey  N.  Olds,  tutors. 

1840.  Dr.  Bishop  in  the  fall  removed.     Dr.  John  C.  Young  of  Danville, 

Ky.,  elected  President.     Prof.   Scott  continuing;  and  Dr.   Bishop 
remaining  as  Professor  till  '45. 

1841.  Dr.  Junkin  elected  and  took  his  chair  in  April.     Dr.  Bishop  resigned. 
3845.     Dr.  Junkin  resigned.     E.  D.  McMaster  elected. 

1849.     Dr.  McMaster  resigned.     Dr.  Wm.  C.  Anderson  elected. 
1854.     Dr.  Anderson  resigned  and  Dr.  John  W.  Hall  elected. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Preface  and  Reasons  for  Publication.     By  A.  A.  Thomas. 

Introduction.     By  Rev.  Sylvester  F.  Scovil,  D.  D. 

Injunction  to  compiler's  son  and  grandson,  to  defend  Dr.  Bishop's  memory. 

Interpolation.     The  early  years  of  Dartmouth  College  and  of  Miami  Uni 
versity,  compared. 

Chronology  of  Anti-Slavery  Contest. 

Miami  University.     Dates  relating  to,  connected  with  matters  in  this  Cor 
respondence. 

CHAPTER  I. 

1834  to  1845. 

r 

Anti-slavery  activities  at  Miami  University  that  centered  in  Butler 
County. — Co-operation  elsewhere  among  Ohio  Presbyterian  ab 
olitionists,  up  to  displacement  of  Dr.  Bishop  at  Oxford 1-32 

CHAPTER  II. 
1824  to  1849. 

The  first  three  Presidents  of  Miami  University,  Drs.  Bishop,  Junkin, 
and  MacMaster. — Reasons  and  consequences  of  the  removal  of 
President  Bishop  and  Professor  John  W.  Scott  33-67 

CHAPTER  III. 

1845  to  1850. 

Deliverance  in  1845,  by  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  on  the 

subject  of  slavery. — Who  brought  it  about ;  and  its  consequences      68-90 

CHAPTER  IV. 

1850  to  1857. 

Drs.  MacMaster  and  Thomas  go  to  the  Seminary  at  New  Albany. — 
They  cause  its  removal  to  Chicago. — Attempt  to  train  ministers 
removed  from  slave  influences  91-104 

CHAPTER  V. 

1859  to  1862. 

Great  gathering  of  pro  slavery  men  at  General  Assembly  at  Indian 
apolis  in  1859. — Who  was  there. — Drs.  MacMaster  and  Thomas 
removed  because  they  would  not  keep  silent  on  the  slavery 
question  105- 

CHAPTER  VI. 

1862  to  1874. 

In  stress  of  war  time, — Dr.  MacMaster  is  restored  to  his  chair  in 
the  Theological  Seminary. — The  story  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick. 
— Dr.  Thomas's  failing  strength. — Last  letters 122-137 


I 


Organisation  of  the  first  anti-slavery  society  at  Miami.  Its  offic 
ers,  "plans  and  principles".  Main  object  (fto  directly  affect 
the  Christian  community,"  and  in  non-slaveholding  states. 


"Minutes  of  the  first  Anti-Slavery  Society,  formed  in  Miami  University, 
12  June  1834.  Members:  Jared  M.  Stone,  W.  S.  Rogers,  J.  Porter,  E. 
Bullard,  Alex  McKinney,  Dan'l  Gilmer,  Tho.  E.  Thomas,  Colin  McKinney, 
and  others. 

Miami  University,  June  12th,  1834. 

At  10  o'clock  A.  M.,  a  meeting  was  held  by  a  portion  of  the  students 
in  this  place,  to  take  into  consideration  the  condition  of  the  oppressed 
people  of  color  throughout  the  United  States. 

W.  S.  Rogers  was  called  to  the  chair.  After  solemn  prayer,  several 
persons  present  briefly  expressed  their  views  of  the  subject  under  con 
sideration  ;  when  it  was  unanimously  resolved,  that  we  organize  ourselves 
into  an  Anti-Slavery  Society. 

A  committee  was  then  appointed  to  draft  a  constitution,  and  present 
it  at  an  adjourned  meeting.  Adjourned  to  meet  on  Tuesday  evening  next, 
at  7  o'clock  P.  M. 

Tuesday,  June  17th. 

The  Society  met.  M.  E.  W.  Bullard  in  the  chair.  The  committee 
presented  the  following  constitution,  which  was  adopted: 

The  following  is  respectfully  submitted  to  the  public  as  the  plans 
and  principles  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  of  Miami  University. 

1.  Believing  our  cause  to  be  not  only  the  cause  of  justice  and  human 
ity,  but  also  the  cause  of  God,  we  hope  in  all  that  we  do,  to  be  governed 
by  the  spirit  of  the  Bible,  to  practice  meekness  and  forbearance,  and  to 
rely  upon  the  Sovereign  of  the  Universe  for  aid  and  success. 

2.  While  it   is  our  desire  to  inform   the  ignorant,  to  influence  the 
intelligent   and  thinking  part  of  our   fellow  citizens,   on  the  subject   of 
Negro  Slavery,  it  is  our  object  more  immediately  and  directly  to  affect 
the  Christian  Community. 

3.  We  wish  the  citizens  of  our  non-slaveholding  states  to  feel  deep 
ly  the  importance  of  the  abolition  of  slavery;  to  feel  that  it  is  their  duty 
not  to  look  on  as  unconcerned  and  silent  spectators,  but  "to  be  up  and 
doing" ;   "to  cry   aloud  and  spare  not" ;   to   act   as   patriots   and  philan 
thropists,  as  men  deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  our  whole  country. 

After  adopting  the  constitution  the  following  persons  were  chosen  to 
fill  the  offices  therein  specified: 

Pres.  J.  M.  Stone.     Sec.  W.  S.  Rogers.    Treas.  J.  Porter. 

Corresponding  Com. 
E.  W.  Bullard.  A.  McKinney.  D.  Gilmer. 


Old  and  early  Emancipationists  in  this  country.  Their  names 
and  dates.  Data  about  them  ~by  Dr.  Tuttle,  President  of 
Wabash  College.  Theo.  D.  Weld  and  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bailey. 
Weld's  method  of  assault  on  slavery. 

NOTE.  From  a  paper  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jos.  F. 
Tuttle,  President  of  Wabash  College,  we  condense  the  following 
statement : 

"If  one  goes  back  to  the  old  Emancipationists  of  this  country,  he  will 
find  among  them  Jonathan  Edwards,  younger ;  Dr.  Hopkins  of  New  York ; 
Rev.  Jacob  Green  of  Hanover,  N.  J.,  father  of  Dr.  Ashbel  Green ;  Benjamin 
Franklin,  and  a  great  many  more.  If  we  recur  to  the  modern  abolition 
movement,  we  find  first  of  all  Benjamin  Lundy  starting  it  in  Virginia  in 
1815,  in  1819  arguing  for  freedom  in  St.  Louis,  in  1822  in  East  Tennessee 
publishing  and  lecturing  against  slavery,  in  1823-4  going  to  Philadelphia 
to  attend  an  Anti-Slavery  Convention,  in  1824  in  Baltimore,  in  1825  visit 
ing  Hayti,  in  1828  associated  with  Mr.  Garrison.  Mr.  Garrison,  most 
people  know,  was  an  abolitionist  forty  years  ago.  Who  else  previous  to 
1830?  Mr.  Adams  began  his  anti-slavery  career  in  1837,  in  presenting  in 
Congress  a  petition  from  slaves.  James  G.  Birney  became  an  abolitionist 
in  1834,  and  thence  forward  he  fought  a  good  fight  despite  mobs  and  social 
ostracism.  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bailey,  of  the  National  Era,  in  1836  became  Mr. 
Birney's  associate  in  labor  and  suffering,  being  repeatedly  mobbed  in 
Cincinnati.  In  1837  Salmon  P.  Chase  entered  upon  his  career  by  defend 
ing  a  slave-woman  before  an  Ohio  court.  In  1838  he  claimed,  in  a  news 
paper  article,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  for  slaves;  in  1843  he  was  dis 
tinguished  in  an  Abolitionist  Convention. 

"I  am  confident  that  the  work  of  Theo.  D.  Weld,  *  and  his  com 
panions,  in  abolitionizing  Ohio  is  underrated.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
worth  while  to  look  at  the  time  when  these  young  men  did  their  work. 
I  cannot  now  recall  a  single  leading  man  in  Ohio  who  was  then,  in 
1833-4,  directly  agitating  the  subject  of  slavery.  Dr.  G.  Bailey,  Mr. 
Birney's  able  associate  in  the  Philanthropist,  was  himself  converted  by 
the  Lane  students  to  their  Anti-Slavery  notions.  In  1830  he  went  into 
that  paper;  the  press  and  material  of  which  were  twice  cast  into  the 

*  As  a  specimen  of  Weld's  method  of  assault  upon  slavery,  we 
quote  the  following  from  one  of  his  addresses: 

"Some  years  since,  when  traveling  from  Halifax  in  N.  C.,  to  Warren- 
ton  in  the  same  State,  we  passed  a  large  drove  of  slaves  on  the  way  to 
Georgia.  Before  coming  up  with  the  gang,  we  saw  at  a  distance  a  colored 
female,  whose  appearance  and  actions  attracted  our  notice.  I  said  to  the 
driver,  who  was  a  slave,  "What  is  the  matter  with  that  woman,  is  she 
crazy?"  "No,  Massa,"  said  he,  "I  know  her:  it  is —  — .  Her  master 
sold  her  two  children  this  morning,  and  she  has  been  following  along 
after  them,  and  I  suppose  they  have  driven  her  back."  By  this  time,  we 
had  come  up  with  the  woman.  She  seemed  quite  young.  As  soon  as  she 
recognized  the  driver,  she  cried  out,  "They've  gone !  they've  gone !  Master 
would  sell  them.  I  told  him  I  couldn't  live  without  my  children.— and  I 
got  away  and  followed  after  them,  but  the  drivers  whipped  me  back". 
The  poor  creature  tossed  her  arms  about  with  maniac  wildness.  and  beat 
her  bosom,  and  literally  cast  dust  into  the  air,  as  she  moved  towards 
the  village.  At  the  last  glimpse  I  had  of  her,  she  was  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  us,  still  throwing  handfuls  of  sand  around  her  with  the 
same  frenzied  air." — A.  A.  T. 


river  that  year.  It  was  not  until  1836  that  we  hear  of  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
and  then  only  as  the  protector  of  Mr.  Birney  from  the  Cincinnati  mob. 
In  1837  he  began  his  true  career  as  the  slave's  friend,  and  commenced  to 
unfold  that  glorious  sentiment,  'Once  free,  alicays  free.' " 

"As  for  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  we  hear  nothing  of  him  until,  in  the 
Ohio  Senate  in  1837,  he  denounced  the  annexation  of  Texas. 

"As  early  as  1834  there  were  few  public  men  in  Ohio, — almost  none, — 
who  either  spoke  or  wrote  against  African  Slavery.  Except  the  Philan 
thropist,  which  was  started  in  1834  or  1835,  I  do  not  now  recall  a  single 
anti-slavery  paper  in  the  State.  Even  as  late  as  1845,  the  Whig  news 
papers  of  Ohio  were  opposed  to  the  agitation  of  slavery,  and  the  agitation 
was  produced  by  other  agencies  mainly. 

"In  1834  the  students  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary  discussed  the 
question  of  slavery,  became  anti-slavery,  and  were  prohibited  from  discuss 
ing  it  further  by  the  Trustees,  because  of  the  risk  of  a  mob.  During  a 
period  of  two  years,  from  1834  to  1836  there  was  intense  agitation  because 
of  the  most  positive  opposition  to  the  discussion  of  slavery." 

The  third  annual  report  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Soci 
ety,  in  1836,  showed  133  anti-slavery  societies  in  Ohio,  and  gives 
the  dates  of  their  organization.  Of  all  these,  but  seven  were 
organized  previous  to  1834. 

Dr.  Cyrus  Prindle  of  Cleveland  wrote  a  letter  printed  in 
"Matlack's  Anti-Slavery  Struggle  in  the  M.  E.  Church,"  in 
which  he  says: 

"No  one  who  was  not  a  participant  in  the  ecclesiastical  proceedings  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  from  1835  to  1840,  can  have  any  idea  of 
the  embarrassments  and  sufferings  to  the  abolitionists  in  those  years  of 
terrorism.  The  struggle  and  conflict  in  the  Church  that  was  the  most 
trying  and  severe  began  about  1834^' — A.  A.  T. 

FROM  HIS  MOTHER. 

Cholera  infection  in  Butler  County.     Burials  at   Venice  every 
day.     Prof.  McGuffey  in  the  homes  of  Miami  students. 

Paddy's  Run,  July  19th,  1834. 
MY  DEAR  BOY  : 

If  I  am  correct  in  the  day  of  the  month,  this  day,  52  years  ago, 
ushered  me  into  this  world  of  changes;  and  I  may  say  with  Jacob,  "few 
and  evil  have  been  the  days  of  my  pilgrimage,  as  it  respects  myself;  but 
as  it  respects  the  Lord's  dealings  with  me,  I  may  say  "goodness  and 
mercy  have  followed  me  all  the  days  of  my  life."  And  now  on  the 
threshold  of  eternity  I  desire  to  take  a  retrospective  view  of  all  my  back- 
slidings  and  wanderings  from  Him,  and  come  back  again  to  that  sure 
foundation  "the  blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  My  own.  good  works 
will  not  save  me  because  they  have  been  very,  very  few  and  all  mixed 
with  sin.  Self -righteousness  is  a  rock  on  which  too  many  split. 

I  only  regret  that  I  have  not  been  more  faithful  to  Him  and  im 
proved  the  unspeakable  privileges  with  which  He  has  blessed  me,  and 
been  more  faithful  to  my  children  in  instructing  them  in  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures  and  their  duty  to  God  and  man.  I  can  say  that  I  have  no  greater 
pleasure  than  to  see  that  my  children  are  walking  in  the  truth;  and  if 
life  is  desirable  for  anything,  it  is  only  this,  that  I  might  see  the  image 
of  Christ  stamped  on  each  of  them.  They  have  been  the  children  of 
many  prayers  and  should  I  not  live  to  see  them,  I  believe  they  will  all  be 
brought  into  the  fold  of  Christ. 


Mr.  McGuffey  called  and  left  your  parcel  for  which  I  thank  you. 
Your  letter  afforded  us  great  pleasure  at  this  solemn  time.  We  are  all 
waiting  the  approach  of  cholera.  There  have  been  seven  buried  in  this 
graveyard  this  week.  Now  I  want  to  guard  you  against  uneasiness. 
Elizabeth  is  at  Venice,  and  we  are  all  using  every  precaution,  by  cleanli 
ness,  composure,  and  proper  diet,  and  should  the  Lord  see  fit  to  visit  us 
with  the  sickness,  no  means  shall  be  left  untried,  and  then  I  desire  to 
say,  "The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done."  I  feel  thankful  that  three  of  you 
are  at  Oxford.  No  better  place,  or  better  help,  should  it  reach  that,  and 
I  do  not  wish  one  of  you  to  come  here.  You  can  do  us  no  good  and 
perhaps  coming  in  out  of  another  air  might  take  it  and  bring  it  to  us. 

Monday  morning.  We  are  yet  all  well  and  I  do  not  know  of  any  new 
cases  of  cholera.  We  had  a  most  delightfully  solemn  day  yesterday."  Mr. 
McGuffey  preached  to  us  on  the  threshold  of  eternity'  and  the  people 
felt  it  and  requested  that  he  would  hold  a  meeting  this  morning  at  nine 
to  return  thanks  to  God  that  no  appearance  of  cholera  is  among  us  as  a 
church  and  to  implore  publicly  His  protection.  Do  not  be  more  uneasy 
than  necessary.  We  will  write  by  next  post  and  wish  you  to  write  too. 

Your  affectionate  mother, 

E.  R.  THOMAS. 

NOTE.  Rev.  William  Holmes  McGuffey,  D.  D.  LL.  D.,  was 
born  in  1800  of  Scotch-Irish  parents  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
graduated  from  Washington  College,  and  was  called  to  the  chair 
of  Languages  in  Miami  University  in  1826,  before  graduation. 
He  was  successively  President  of  Cincinnati  College,  in  1837; 
President  of  Ohio  University,  Athens,  1839-45;  and  Professor  of 
Moral  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  1845-73.  He 
died  in  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  1873.  Two  of  his  children  are 
living,  Mrs.  Mary  Stewart  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Andrew  D.  Hepburn,  once  President,  and  now  Professor  Emer 
itus  at  Miami. 

I  hold  no  letter  of  Dr.  McGuffey's  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
and  doubt  if  he  ever  wrote  one.  Some  persons  think  any  one  is 
cold  who  is  reticent,  and  Dr.  McG.  was  ever  reticent.  "Con 
temporary  letters  are  facts :"  and  this  chance  letter  is  no  unpleas 
ant  picture  of  him,  at  Darrtown,  if  you  please,  or  at  Venice,  or 
other  outlying  hamlets  that  were  Miami's  constituencies.  He 
was  where  in  time  of  cholera,  there  were  funerals  needed  every 
day,  consoling  the  dying  and  burying  the  dead.  In  such  homes  as 
this  letter  came  from,  he  was  a  welcome  and  distinguished  guest, 
as  he  was  later,  in  the  cultured  homes  at  Charlottesville,  where 
he  was  to  be  a  professor  for  the  next  thirty-eight  years. 

He  is  most  widely  known  by  the  series  of  School  Readers 
prepared  by  him.  If  some  of  us  can  think  of  them  only  as  the 
dog-eared  books  school  boys  pushed  their  elbows  into,  others  will 
remember  them  differently.  When  Dr.  McGuffey  died,  a  writer 
in  a  Chicago  paper  claimed  the  selections  in  his  Readers  from 
Webster  had  been  of  essential  use  in  maintaining  Union  senti 
ment  in  the  Northwest,  in  the  hesitating  time,  before  or  early 
in  the  war  of  Secession.  TJiey  were  declaimed  in  every  school 
house  and  were  on  the  lips  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  and 


women  who  had  been  school  children.  These  Readers  long  had 
an  exclusive  use  that  none  will  have  again.  The  newspaper  and 
magazine  of  to-day  were  wholly  wanting;  almost  all  private 
houses  had  no  books  except  the  Bible  and  school  books;  and  of 
the  latter,  the  Readers,  he  said,  were  longest  preserved. 

My  father,  his  old  pupil,  had  a  regard  for  Dr.  Win.  H. 
McGuffey  he  had  for  no  other  man  who  was  a  teacher  only.  He 
preached  but  seldom  as  years  went  on,  and  then  I  can  remember, 
when  he  came  here,  the  large  groups  of  educated  people  who  lin 
gered  after  church  to  show  their  respect. 

Any  University  consists  of  a  place,  and  persons,  and  mem 
ories.  Modern  life,  they  say,  is  deficient  in  ceremony:  college 
Centennials  are  occasions  for  ceremony.  The  worth  of  Dr. 
William  H.  McGuffey  is  also  "a  tradition  in  many  families." 
The  children  or  children's  children  of  his  students  live  in  nearly 
every  state.  If  they  can  be  reminded  in  June,  they  will  honor 
his  memory.  Miami  University  will  honor  herself  if  she  does  the 
same  thing. — A.  A.  T.,  May,  1909. 

Mother  of  Tlwmas  E.  Thomas.    Her  character  and  trials.    Exul 
tation  ichen  told  that  death  approached. 

NOTE.  Elizabeth  Robinson,  mother  of  Thomas  E.  Thomas, 
was  born  in  England  in  1782,  and  always  lived  in  London  until 
her  marriage  to  Thomas  Thomas  in  1808.  She  was  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Thomas  Robinson,  who  was  a  deacon  of  the  Inde 
pendent  Congregation  of  Stepney  Chapel,  and  a  prosperous  mer 
chant  in  the  Russia  tallow  trade. 

Reared  in  comfort  and  plenty  in  early  life;  afterward  with 
a  family  of  five  young  children,  in  emigrating  to  America  and 
living  in  the  pioneer  West,  she  saw  her  full  share  of  all  the  diffi 
culties  and  trials  which  could  fall  to  the  lot  of  such  a  woman. 
"We  were,"  she  afterwards  said,  "in  every  sense,  missionaries 
except  in  the  name  and  the  support."  She  had  many  accomplish 
ments,  and  her  intelligence  and  cheerfulness  made  her  welcome 
in  any  company  all  her  days. 

It  was  his  mother  who  prepared  Thomas  E.  Thomas  for 
college.  She  had  an  especial  dislike  for  denominational  or  secta 
rian  partition  walls,  which  people  afterwards  wondered  at  in  her 
son.  On  his  ordination,  she  wrote  to  him,  "You  were  solemnly 
dedicated  to  God's  service  from  the  moment  you  drew  your  breath ; 
and  in  the  most  devoted,  awfully  solemn  manner,  dedicated  to 
Him  in  baptism,  by  your  dear  Father.  The  vows  of  God  are  now 
upon  you,  and  woe  unto  you  if  you  draw  back." 

If,  in  after  life,  when  influenced  by  Dr.  MacMaster,  my  father 
hesitated  to  say  he  would  not  commune  with  slaveholders,  there 
was  one  old  lady  behind  him  who  had  no  doubts  on  the  subject ; 


nor,  to  the  last,  would  she  in  church,  fellowship  with  or  sit  to 
hear  any  of  those  who  were  "dealers  in  flesh  and  blood." 

What  mother  ever  before  wrote  to  her  son :  "Hold  your  little 
children  loosely ;  they  are  but  lent  treasures  to  be  recalled  anon : 
and  have  a  care  lest  they  take  our  thoughts  from  God!"  To 
me,  my  grandmother  always  appeared  to  be  the  last  of  the  Puri 
tans. 

Among  the  letters  preserved  by  my  father,  is  one  endorsed 
by  him  "My  last  letter  from  my  dear  mother;  she  came  to  my 
house  6  April  1863,  and  died  there  6  April  1864." 

When  it  was  announced  to  this  old  saint  that  death  ap 
proached,  her  loud  cries  of  triumph  and  rejoicing  seemed  strange 
to  hear:  she  had  no  time  for  adieus  or  worldly  concern;  heaven 
opened  to  her  view.  Her  father  and  sisters,  long  gone  before, 
she  greeted  repeatedly  by  name,  as  though  they  stood  at  her 
side,  as  they  did  in  reality  to  her;  thus  it  was  till  the  coma  of 
death  stopped  her  voice.  "So  she  passed  over;  and  all  the 
trumpets  sounded  on  the  other  side." — A.  A.  T. 

FROM  THEODORE  JOHNSON,  A  CLASSMATE  AT  MIAMI 
UNIVERSITY. 

An  inside  view  of  slavery.    Education  and  due  religious  instruc 
tion  withheld. 

Beverly,  Adams  Co.,  Miss.,  Jan.  25,  1836. 
DEAR  BROTHER: 

I  have  heard  of  you  only  once  since  I  left;  but  was  pleased  to  learn 
that  your  school  was  prospering.  I  have  delayed  writing,  but  have  been 
endeavoring  to  collect  the  information  that  you  desired  me  to  communi 
cate;  although  it  is  universally  the  opinion  here  that  such  information 
should  not  be  communicated,  even  privately,  to  particular  friends.  I 
shall  tell  you  only  what  I  see  and  hear,  and  know  to  be  true.  Who,  ex 
cept  those  who  do  evil  and  hate  the  light,  were  ever  afraid  to  have  others 
know  their  manners  and  customs?  The  greatest  injustice  of  these  people 
is  their  withholding  from  the  slaves  the  privilege  of  learning  the  Gospel, 
either  by  reading  or  hearing  preaching.  In  Natchez  a. sermon  is  preached 
to  the  slaves  every  Sabbath  afternoon,  in  the  Methodist  Church,  and  some 
are  permitted  to  attend.  But  in  the  country  the  slaves  live  and  die  almost 
as  ignorant  of  religion  as  the  mules  and  oxen  they  drive.  I  know  of  but 
four  plantations  where  religious  instruction  is  permitted.  One  of  them  is 
Mr.  Chase's,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  wrho  preaches  to  his  own  slaves, 
and  none  within  five  miles  around  him  are  permitted  to  go  and  hear  him. 
Neither  is  he  permitted  to  go  and  preach  to  them  at  home.  The  slaves 
of  Mr.  H — 's  plantation  hold  meetings  by  themselves.  One  leads,  sings, 
prays,  talks ;  but  as  he  cannot  read  and  does  not  hear  any  Scripture  read,  his 
talking  is  vain  repetition,  that  does  little  or  no  good.  About  a  month  after 
I  came  here,  I  asked  Mr.  H.  if  he  had  any  objections  to  my  reading  the 
Scripture  to  the  slaves  on  the  Sabbath.  His  answer  was,  "Yes  sir,  I  do 
not  wish  anything  of  the  kind  done."  Shortly  after  this,  while  reading 
in  my  own  room  on  the  Sabbath,  two  slaves,  about  14  years  old,  came  to 
me  with  a  spelling  book  and  asked  me  to  hear  them  read.  I  should  have 
been  glad  to  hear  them  and  talk  about  their  souls;  but  knowing  their 
master's  views,  I  sent  them  away  just  as  they  came.  Where  no  preaching 
is  allowed,  the  Sabbath,  of  course,  is  not  regarded  as  a  sacred  day.  All 

6 


extra  work  is  attended  to,  which  might  interrupt  regular  business  of  the 
week.  Last  Sunday,  I  walked  out  at  noon  to  the  quarters.  I  there  saw 
four  slaves  washing  clothes,  one  man  repairing  the  roof  of  his  house ;  one 
nailing  old  boards  over  the  crevices  in  the  wall,  etc. 

I  accomplish  little  in  study  beyond  miscellaneous  reading  and  don't 
know  when  I  shall  be  prepared  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  I  have  no 
religious  associates  here,  and  my  graces  are  very  low. 

Among  the  students  who  were  at  Miami  during  the  five  years 
T.  E.  Thomas  was  there,  and  who  as  undergraduates  knew  and 
influenced  each  other,  were  Wm.  S.  Groesbeck,  Jno.  J.  McBae, 
Jos.  G.  Monfort,  Wm.  B.  Caldwell,  Samuel  F.  Cary,  Wm.  Denni- 
son,  Jere  H.  Peirce,  WTm.  R.  Rogers,  James  Birney,  the  son  of 
Jas.  G.  Birney,  Free-Soil  nominee  for  president,  Chauncey  N. 
Olds,  Thomas  P.  Townsley,  Samuel  Galloway,  Benj.  W.  Chidlaw, 
Charles  Anderson,  Jas.  J.  Faran,  T.  Lyle  Dickey,  Freeman  Cary, 
Robt.  H.  Bishop,  Jr.,  Thornton  A.  Mills,  Albert  Galloway.  David 
H.  Bruen  and  Jared  M.  Stone. 

Many  others  of  character  and  influence  throughout  their 
lives  would  not  be  known  by  the  reader,  if  recalled  by  name. 
One  roomed  with  my  father  during  his  early  Oxford  years.  In 
debate  at  the  "Lit,"  some  one  said,  "I  do  not  want  by  severity  to 
discourage  my  opponent.  He  is  'The  Hope  of  Tod's  Fork.'  "  This 
was  a  creek  in  Warren  county.  The  students  never  after  called 
him  by  any  other  name.  At  the  date  of  reopening  of  Miami, 
just  fifty  years  afterwards,  a  tottering  old  clergyman  went  by, 
led  by  his  daughter.  Gov.  Charles  Anderson  then  told  me  the 
story,  which  I  knew.  "There,"  said  he,  "is  'The  Hope  of  Tod's 
Fork.' " 

FROM  JARED  M.    STONE,   A  CLASSMATE   AT   MIAMI   UNIVERSITY 

Lexington,  Ky.,  March  4,  1836. 
BROTHER  THOMAS  : — 

My  carelessness,  I  fear,  has  given  you  just  cause  to  think  that  I  had 
forgotten  you,  or  iny  promise,  at  least,  to  write  to  you  soon.  In  a  short 
time  after  I  left  you  last  October,  I  went  in  search  of  a  school,  and 
found  a  situation,  at  last  after  tramping  about  for  three  or  four  weeks. 
This  business  of  hunting  up  schools  is  fine  exercise  indeed,  you  know 
something  about  it  perhaps.  I  went  down  to  Louisville  and  New  Albany, 
searched  about  in  that  quarter  several  days,  but  found  no  opening  such 
as  I  chose  to  engage  in.  Passing  on  to  Lexington,  Ky..  I  found  a  country 
classical  school,  about  five  miles  from  the  city,  where  I  have  been  staying 
ever  since.  But  my  school,  though  tolerably  agreeable,  is  not  of  such  an 
interesting  character  as  to  require  a  particular  description.  I  should  like 
to  know  how  you  are  getting  along  at  Franklin,  as  well  as  I  am  here, 
and  better  no  doubt.  This  Kentucky  liberality — bah — they  hug  their  gold 
dust  with  as  strong  a  grip  as  even  the  penurious  Yankee!  I  knew  some 
thing  about  the  people  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  that  gathering  money  from 
them  was  like  gathering  figs  from  thistles ;  but  in  respect  to  the  Ken- 
tuckians  I  was  somewhat  like  Dick  Whittington  when  he  supposed  the 
streets  of  London  to  be  paved  with  gold.  But  never  mind,  say  I.  Bread 
is  earned  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow. 


How  do  you  stand  now  in  respect  to  Abolition?  I  have  not  seen  Cal- 
houn's  Report  in  Congress.  He,  no  doubt,  pours  out  upon  the  heads  of 
those — fanatics — incendiaries — as  the  Southerners  call  the  Abolitionists — 
a  sea  of  wrath.  He  is  a  strong  man,  and  likely  to  be  right  where  his 
head  is  not  perverted  by  passion  and  prejudice ;  Calhouti  has  no  small 
share  of  Southern  feeling,  and  prejudice.  You  take  Birney's  publication, 
I  suppose.  I  have  seen  no  numbers  of  it.  I  have  just  been  reading  the 
address  of  the  Kentucky  Synod  to  the  Churches  under  its  care,  written 
by  J.  C.  Young,  and  of  course,  breathing  the  very  spirit  of  Gradualism. 
It  is  an  able  document,  however,  and  I  am  ,  on  the  whole,  well  pleased 
with  it.  Kentucky,  no  doubt,  exhibits  slavery  in  its  mildest  forms,  but 
even  here  there  is  enough  to  cause  the  very  heart  to  sicken.  The  system  of 
domestic  slavery  is  execrable,  dark  and  damning,  view  it  as  you  will. 
But  it  cannot  stand. 

You  will  be  present  when  the  Presbytery  meets,  and  I  hope  to  see 
you  then.  What  progress  do  you  make  in  theological  study?  Do  you 
read  any  system  regularly?  Teaching  and  regular  systematic  study  do 
not  harmonize  entirely.  Much  may  be  accomplished,  however,  by  dili 
gence  and  perseverance. 

Have  you  any  doubts  respecting  the  received  doctrine  of  the  Trinity? 
That  the  Beings  designated  by  the  titles,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit  are 
invested  with  all  the  attributes  of  deity  is  abundantly  clear,  but  that 
there  exist  three  distinct  persons  in  the  divine  Essence,  it  seems  to  me 
a  difficult  matter  to  prove  from  the  Scriptures.  Do  not  the  titles  above 
designate  the  several  modes  under  which  the  Sovereign  has  chosen  to  re 
veal  himself  to  the  children  of  Men? 

Dr.  Jared  M.  Stone;  history;  quality  and  service  as  a  college 
teacher.    Early  Western  teachers  poorly  paid. 

NOTE.  Kev.  Jared  M.  Stone,  D.  D.,  was  born  at  New  Milford, 
Conn.,  in  1808,  removed  to  the  west  in  1829  with  his  father's  family 
which  settled  in  Franklin  Co.,  Indiana,  near  Harrison,  O.  Soon 
thereafter  entering  Miami  University,  he  was  graduated,  taking 
the  first  honors  of  his  class.  Afterward  he  taught  at  Oxford,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  pursued  his  studies  for  the  ministry  under  the 
direction  of  Drs.  Bishop,  McGuffey  and  Scott.  Dr.  Scott  has 
written  of  him  that  "he  not  only  stood  first  in  scholarship  in  one 
of  the  largest  classes  which  the  University  ever  graduated,  but 
extended  his  reading  and  studies  over  a  wider  field  of  science,  lit 
erature  and  general  intelligence  outside  of  the  regular  college 
curriculum." 

Dr.  Stone  was  married  in  1836,  to  Miss  Abbie  Clark  of  Con- 
way,  Mass.,  who  had  for  some  time  been  principal  of  a  select 
girls'  school  at  Oxford;  and  first  became  pastor  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  at  Connersville,  Indiana. 

In  Sept.,  1841,  he  began  his  labors  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Springdale,  Hamilton  Co.,  O.,  the  membership  of 
which  was  scattered  over  a  large  territory.  In  ministering  to 
these  people  he  held  services  at  five  or  six  separated  places,  and 
this  involved  time,  labor  and  endurance  in  travel  over  bad  roads, 
little  realized  at  the  present  time.  Thirty-two  persons  were  at 
once,  received  here  on  examination. 

8 


From  Springdale,  Dr.  S.  went  to  New  Albany,  Ind.,  to  teach 
a  female  seminary;  and  from  thence,  at  the  urgent  call  of  Dr. 
Thomas,  accepted  a  Professorship  in  Hanover  College,  where  he 
remained  six  years,  acting  as  President  for  two  years  after  Dr. 
T.  left  in  1854.  Thereafter,  he  was  for  two  years  professor  in 
Iowa  State  University,  at  Iowa  City;  and  from  1858  to  1863, 
pastor  of  the  Church  and  Principal  of  an  Academy  at  Prince- 
ville,  Peoria  Co.,  111.  In  1871,  Dr.  Stone  removed  to  Old  Du 
Quoin,  where  he  continued  teaching  and  preaching,  until  after 
forty  years  of  self-sacrificing  labor,  and  about  two  years  after 
the,  death  of  Dr.  Thomas,  he  followed  him,  on  Oct.  10,  1876. 

'  "Where  did  you  get  so  much  mathematics  in  Illinois?" 
asked  the  examiner  at  Union  College,  N.  Y.,  of  one  of  his  pupils 
who  had  presented  himself  there  for  admission.  Although  the 
mathematics  and  natural  science  were  his  chosen  specialty,  his 
fellow  Professors  at  Hanover  used  to  say,  as  was  said  elsewhere 
of  Dr.  MacMaster,  that  when  unexpectedly  called,  he  would 
teach  any  other  department  as  well  as  its  regular  instructor. 
Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards,  in  an  historical  address  at  McCor- 
mick  Theology  Seminary,  stated  that  no  one  familiar  with  early 
church  educational  enterprises  in  the  West  would  be  disposed  to 
complain  because  they  were  not  more  liberally  supported.  Times 
were  hard:  money  was  scarce  and  not  generally  in  the  hands 
of  those  willing  and  under  obligation  to  give:  yet  the  fact 
remains  that  in  their  early  days,  most  of  the  Colleges  in  the 
West  starved  with  Professors.  Now,  most  of  them  have  endow 
ments  and  wealth ;  but  wealth  cannot  often  buy  such  instruction 
as  Prof.  Stone  gave,  for  a  generation,  to  seminaries  and  pupils 
who  were  not  able  to  pay  for  it.  Rev.  C.  Sturdevant,  in  his  letter 
on  page  -  — ,  states  that  while  Principal  of  a  female  seminary 
at  New  Albany,  Prof.  Stone  agreed  "not  to  disturb  the  har 
mony  of  that  institution  with  his  views  about  slavery".  Per 
haps  this  was  true;  but  it  is  also  true  that  from  boyhood,  and 
throughout  his  life,  Jared  M.  Stone  was  a  staunch,  reliable, 
moderate,  intelligent  and  outspoken  abolitionist. — A.  A.  T. 

No  note  is  needed  in  this  volume  more  than  one  on  "The 
BrecMnridges  ;  especially  Rev.  Dr.  Robt.  J.,  Rev.  Dr.  John  C. 
Young:  'The  Kentucky  Emancipationists'  and  'Gradualism f" 
and  none  would  be  so  hard  to  write.  The  Note  was  prepared  but 
withheld  unfinished,  for  want  of  some  information  which  lay 
only  in  MSS.  or  pamphlet  prints.  These  I  was  foiled  in  try 
ing  to  get. 

In  American  historical  studies,  no  subject  ought  to  be  so 
tempting  to  a  biographer  as  the  story  of  the  Breckinridge  family 
and  its  connections,  in  relation  to  the  anti-slavery  struggle  in 
Church  and  State.  The  topic  seems  never  to  have  been  touched 
by  any  one  competent  and  informed,  for  fear  of  rousing  varied 

9 


resentment  in  hostile  factions  of  the  high  class  of  people  from 
whom  such  a  biographer  would  wish  a  continuance  of  existing 
good-will.  "Let  us  have  peace";  but  that  was  never  the  motto 
of  the  Breckinridge  family.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Robt.  J.  probably 
never  had  peace  on  any  subject,  with  any  person,  at  any  place 
during  a  long  and  tempestuous  life.  For  all  that,  he  was  a  glory 
of  a  man;  second  to  none,  I  believe,  in  the  United  States,  of 
those  who  never  held  any  official  position. 

The  future  biographer  will  find  his  difficulty,  not  in  telling 
the  truth,  for  no  one  could  fail  to  do  that  about  Rev.  Dr.  R.  J.  B. : 
— the  old  doctor  never  gave  anybody  a  chance  to; — but  the  diffi 
culty  will  be  to  let  men  and  events  have  a  due  relation  and  pro 
portion,  and  to  give  actual  and  adequate  background. 

Most  historians  and  biographers  tell  the  truth.  Rev.  Dr. 
Halsey,  in  his  history  of  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary, 
does,  but  if  his  subjects  have  any  pro  or  anti-slavery  record, 
he  covers  the  exposed  parts  with  two  coats  of  white-wash. 
His  hope  and  wish  is  that  all  men  may  look  alike.  And  they 
do  when  he  has  got  through  with  them.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Charles 
Hodge  of  Princeton  was  a  past  master  in  this  biographical  art. 
Dr.  Jared  Sparks  was  an  eminent  offender  in  his  line;  he  would 
omit  words  and  lines  in  Washington's  letters  and  elucidate  the 
text  until  "there  was  nothing  left  of  Washington  but  a  steel 
engraving",  having  a  fixed  expression  of  piety  and  dignified  peace. 
I  can  strike  words  or  lines  from  the  letters  and  addresses  of 
Rev.  Drs.  E.  D.  MacMaster,  Thomas  E.  Thomas,  Jno.  W.  Scott, 
and  of  Nathan  L.  Rice,  George  Junkin,  Palmer  and  Charles 
Hodge,  to  the  somewhat  "promotion  of  the  peace  of  the  church", 
and  to  the  disaccommodation  of  the  truth. 


My  father  throughout  his  life  abounded  in  stories  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  R.  J.  Breckinridge.  He  once  came  to  Miami  and  examined 
a  class  in  ancient  history.  "Where  is  Smyrna?",  he  asked  a 
student.  "Do  you  allude  to  its  location,  Sir?",  asked  the  stu 
dent.  "Yes,"  said  the  old  doctor,  "I  allude  to  its  location,  and 
any  thing  else  about  it  comprehended  by  the  word,  "Where."- 
A/A.  T.,  May,  1909.  

No  one  in  the  United  States  understood  Kentucky  "Gradual 
ism"  better  than  President  Lincoln.  During  the  four  long  years, 
he  kept  his  finger  on  her  pulse,  forgave  her  her  trespasses,  argued 
her  case  against  her  enemies,  and,  at  last,  won  her  confidence. 
He  gave  Missouri  the  same  treatment  with  less  success,  because 
there  were  less  able  men  there. 

The  events  of  the  war  cured  Dr.  Robt.  J.  Breckinridge  of 
Gradualism.  At  Baltimore,  when  Lincoln  was  renominated,  he 
called  the  great  convention  to  order.  All  the  country  listened. 
He  said,  "They  tell  us  what  we  will  do  is  unconstitutional.  We 
will  change  our  Constitution  if  it  suits  us  to  do  so." 

10 


FROM    REV.    DR.    ROBERT    H.    BISHOP,    PRESIDENT    OF    MIAMI 

UNIVERSITY. 

My  dear  Friend :  Oxford,  September  1,  1836. 

As  some  new  arrangements  are  to  be  made  in  Miami 
University,  my  thoughts  have  been  tending  toward  you.  Be 
pleased  to  let  me  know  if  it  would  be  agreeable  to  you  to  cast 
in  your  lot  with  us  here. 

My  plan  is  that  you  should  be  styled  Professor  of  Rhetoric 
and  Greek  Literature,  and  instruct  the  Sophomores  and  Jun 
iors;  Horace's  Art  of  Poetry  and  select  portions  of  the  Greek 
classics  to  be  your  standing  text  books.  The  salary  will  be  $600, 
with  the  prospect  of  being  increased  to  seven  or  eight  hundred 
should  you  succeed. 

As  the  plan  is  wholly  my  own,  I  wish  to  have  your  opinion 
on  it  before  I  state  so  much  in  the  preparatory  announcement. 

Let  me  hear  then  from  you  immediately. 
Sincerely  yours, 

R.  H.  BISHOP. 

P.  S.    Remember  me  affectionately  to  your  mother. 

FROM  HIS  MOTHER. 

Defense  of  slavery  in  Warren  County  churches.  What  this  Eng 
lish  mother  thinks  and  does  in  consequence.  Remembers 
struggles  in  England  for  emancipation.  Tells  her  son  to 
"stand  his  ground". 

My  Dear  Son:  Franklin,  O.,  Sept.  4,  1839. 

As  my  mind  is  full  of  concern  I  sit  down  this  evening  to 
unburthen  it  to  you.  *  *  *  I  believe  the  people  in  Franklin 
Church  are  dwindling  most  of  them  into  mere  formalists.  I 
hope  better  things  of  the  over  river  people,  for  1  understand 
Mr.  Hudson  invited  a  slaveholder  to  assist  him  on  the  last  Sab 
bath;  and  the  people  would  not  let  him  come,  but  requested 
that  you  might  be  invited;  on  your  refusal,  Mr.  Coffee  of  Leb 
anon  supplied.  I  do  not  know  what  Mr.  H —  is  at  heart,  but 
he  preached  two  Wednesday  lectures  from  the  passage  where 
Paul  sent  Onesimus,  the  runaway  slave,  as  Mr.  H —  called  him, 
back  to  his  master.  From  this,  and  other  passages,  he  proved 
that  there  were  slaves  in  the  Apostles'  day,  and  that  they  ran 
away  from  their  masters;  and  that  the  Apostle  thought  right 
to  send  them  back  again.  I  suppose  this  was  to  support  the 
"Ohio  Black  Laws";  and  likewise  slavery  had  been  established 
in  the  patriarchal  days,  and  was  a  wise  appointment.  Now  all 
this  he  might  have  said,  if  he  had  made  a  comparison  between 
the  patriarchal  slaves  and  the  Kentucky  slaves, — but  no!  that 
must  be  concealed  for  some  abolitionist  to  divulge,  poor  fellow, 
and  get  his  head  shot  off  for  it.  Well,  truth  will  come  out,  and 

11 


I  believe  that  it  will  not  be  long  before  people  will  be  ashamed 
of  such  concealments.  Ministers  have  to  turn  the  tiib  sometimes, 
you  know,  and  perhaps  this  was  one  of  the  old  Kentuck  sermons. 
It  would  do  very  well  there  now.  Mr.  H —  closed  the  services 
with  "The  Lord  dismiss  us",  etc.  I  was  asked  why  I  did  not 
sing.  I  told  them  because  I  expected  the  Lord  would  dismiss 
me  with  His  curse  if  I  did.  This  is  an  uncomfortable  state  to 
be  in;  (but  it  is  so).  Since  that  we  had  a  right  hot  coloniza- 
tionist  preach  at  the  Methodist  meeting-house;  and  he  under 
took  to  make  out  the  abolitionists  such  vile  fellows;  that  is, 
they  had  acted  so  unwisely  in  all  their  exertions  and  had  done 
nothing,  that  I  took  my  leave  of  the  house  before  he  had  pro 
ceeded  far;  so  you  see  we  have  colonization  here  as  well  as  at 
Hamilton.  But  never  fear;  so  we  had  in  England,  and  in  the 
British  Parliament  for  twenty  years.  But  Clarkson  and  Wilber- 
force  were  conquerors !  Stand  your  ground ! !  Don't  flinch  one 
inch!!!  * 

*NOTE.  The  punctuation  given  follows  the  MS.  Abraham 
Lincoln  said,  "Some  people  claim  punctuation  is  a  matter  of 
rule;  with  me  it  is  a  matter  of  feeling."  With  my  grandmother 
it  evidently  was  a  matter  of  emphasis.  (A.  A.  T.) 

TO  PROFESSOR  JNO.  W.   SCOTT. 

T.  E.  Thomas  goes  to  the  anti-slavery  convention  at  Massillon; 
Reasons  why.    Messages  he  icants  from  Oxford  people. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Hamilton,  O.,  May  13,  1840. 

I  have  concluded  to  attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the  O. 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  at  Massillon,  Stark  Co.  It  meets  May 
27th.  I  go  as  a  delegate  from  the  society  in  this  place;  and 
shall  accompany  Bro.  Blanchard.  My  reasons  for  attending, 
at  this  time,  are  several.  First,  my  health,  I  hope  will  be  im 
proved,  by  a  gentle  ride  of  200  miles.  Then,  I  shall  have  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  capital  of  our  State,  and  a  large  dis 
trict  of  country  with  which  I  am  almost  wholly  unacquainted. 
An  opportunity  of  botanising,  a  little,  at  this  season  of  the 
year,  in  a  diagonal  line  across  Ohio,  is  of  some  importance. 
Of  more  value  is  the  privilege  of  forming  an  acquaintance  with 
a  large  number  of  individuals  of  whom  I  have  heard  something, 
and  who  will  attend  the  Convention.  I  have  some  curiosity, 
(may  my  old  school  brethren  forgive!)  to  look  at  Finney,  who 
is  to  be  there.  A  large  number  of  Western  Reserve  people  will 
be  present;  and  I  wish  to  see  a  little  of  Western  Reserve  char 
acter;  having  heard  the  fame  thereof  with  my  ears.  It  will  be 
some  pleasure  to  meet  Burgess,  and  Crothers,  and  Rankin,  and 
Buffum,  &c.  But,  above  all  these,  and  next  to  my  love  for  the 
Anti-Slavery  cause,  that  which  determined  me  to  attend,  was, 

12 


the  importance  of  the  meeting  at  the  present  crisis.  The  ques 
tion  of  political  action,  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  sustain 
ing  a  third  party,  will  be  discussed,  and  decided  in  some  way. 
And  that  decision  will  have  no  little  influence  upon  abolitionists, 
both  in  Ohio  and  elsewhere.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  opposed,  at 
present,  to  such  a  third  party;  though  I  cannot  vote  for  either 
Van  Buren  or  Gen'l  Harrison.  Both  are  devoted  to  the  slave- 
holding  interest.  But  what  I  fear  is,  tliat,  should  the  aboli 
tionists  decide  in  favor  of  the  new  nominations,  and  combine  as 
a  political  party,  they  would  lose  much  of  their  moral  influence; 
and  many  would  be  deterred  from  sustaining  the  anti-slavery 
cause,  who  would,  otherwise,  cheerfully  support  it.  Ministers, 
for  instance,  would  feel  that,  in  supporting  abolitionists  as  a 
third  party,  proposing  candidates  for  the  Presidency  of  the  U.  S. 
they  were  entering  too  fully  into  politics;  and  many  would  fear 
to  draw  upon  themselves  the  opposition  of  the  present  parties. 
Still,  I  believe  that  abolitionists  are  bound  to  use  their  suffrages 
in  favor  of  freedom;  and  I  know  not  how  they  can,  consistently 
with  duty,  vote  for  Van  Buren  or  Harrison. 

Should  you  or  Dr.  Bishop,  or  any  of  the  abolitionists  of 
Oxford  think  proper  to  communicate  your  views  on  this  subject, 
either  to  be  employed  at  the  Anniversary,  or,  should  you  prefer 
it,  only  to  aid  me  in  understanding  the  public  sentiment  in  this 
region,  that  I  may  the  better  represent  it,  I  shall  be  glad.  I 
do  not  suppose  that  either  the  Dr.  or  yourself  would  wish  your 
names  to  be  used.  I  am  anxious  that  this,  among  other  ques 
tions,  should  be  settled  aright;  and,  as  there  will  be  a  large 
attendance  from  the  upper  end  of  the  State,  where  the  third 
party  is  popular,  I  deem  it  important  that  our  section  should 
be  represented  as  fully  as  possible.  And,  as  I  suppose  that  many 
will  be  prevented  from  attending,  by  the  distance,  I  feel  it  my 
duty  to  go.  I  shall  pass  through  Springfield,  taking  J.  Galloway 
with  us,  if  possible;  and  by  Columbus,  and  Granville. 

I  intend  to  take  a  Peace-Maker  with  me;  and  if  urgent  re 
quests  succeed,  will  bring  home  a  good  list  of  subscribers. 

My  love  to  Mrs.  S.  and  family. 

Could  not  the  abolitionists  of  Oxford  hold  a  meeting  this 
week,  and  send  up  a  written  report  of  what  they  did  the  past 
year,  for  the  slave,  and  what  they  intend  doing  the  coming  yearf 
I  should  be  happy  to  take  it;  and  the  Society  requests  such  in 
formation. 

t 

Prof.  John  W.  Scott.  Ancestry,  Education,  Sketch  of  his  life, 
and  service  as  a  college  instructor.  Beautiful  old  age. 
Death. 

NOTE:  The  Rev.  John  Witherspoon  Scott,  D.  D.,  was  born 
January  22,  1800,  and  was  graduated  at  Washington  College  in 

13 


1823.  He  then  took  post- graduate  work  in  science,  under  Pro 
fessor  Silliman  in  Yale  College,  from  which  he  received  his  Mas 
ters'  Degree. 

"The  Laird  of  Arras,"  as  he  was  called,  was  an  officer  in 
the  army  of  the  Covenanters,  at  the  battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge. 
His  son,  John,  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  came  to  America  in 
1741,  when  fifty  years  old,  and  became  one  of  the  first  trustees  of 
the  Neshaming  church,  in  Pennsylvania.  With  him  came  his  son 
William,  whose  son  w'as  the  Rev.  Geo.  McElroy  Scott,  who  was 
educated  under  Dr.  Ewing  of  Philadelphia,  the  founder  of  the 
University  of  Pa.,  and  studied  theology  under  Dr.  Witherspoon 
of  Princeton.  He  was  an  eminent  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church;  was  active  in  missions  among  the  Indians,  near  San- 
dusky,  Ohio,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Washington  Col 
lege.  In  this  institution,  his  son,  the  Rev.  John  Witherspoon 
Scott,  D.  D.,  the  subject  of  this  note,  became  a  professor.  In 
1828,  he  became  professor  of  Mathematics  in  Miami  University. 
It  was  the  character  and  the  teaching  of  Drs.  Bishop,  McGuffey 
and  Scott,  of  them  so  preeminently  that  no  other  names  need 
be  now  mentioned,  which  gave  its  early  and  deserved  fame  to 
Miami  University.  From  Miami,  Dr.  Scott  followed  Dr.  Bishop 
to  Farmer's  College,  but  four  years  afterward  he  opened  the 
Oxford  Female  College,  at  the  head  of  which  for  ten  years  he 
exerted  a  wide  influence.  Afterward  he  was,  for  a  short  time, 
at  Hanover  College,  then  two  years  at  the  State  University, 
Springfield,  111.,  then  seven  years  at  Monongahela,  Pa.,  and 
afterwards  took  a  position  in  the  Pension  Bureau  at  Wash 
ington,  the  duties  of  which,  despite  of  very  advanced  years,  he 
continued  faithfully  to  discharge  until  a  recent  date. 

"The  chair  for  which  he  was  trained  by  its  greatest  master 
of  that  day  in  the  New  World,  he  occupied  for  fifty -three  years ;" 
but  of  these  Miami  had  only  seventeen,  1828-1845. 

He  is  the  father  of  Mrs.  Benjamin  Harrison,  the  present 
mistress  of  the  White  House,  where  he  is  now  living  at  the 
remarkable  age  of  ninety-two.  To  him,  with  this  correspondence, 
the  children  of  his  early  friend  would  send  respectful  greetings. 
May  he  live,  in  his  own  years,  to  complete  a  wonderful  century 
of  the  life  of  the  Republic,  and  to  see  all  the  fruits  of  the 
victory,  as  he  has  already  seen  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the 
Anti-Slavery  Conflict— A.  A.  T. 

Geo.  Alfred  Townsend  wrote  of  Prof.  Scott,  "A  more  whole 
some  and  beautiful  man  of  his  age  I  have  never  seen  anywhere." 
He  accompanied  his  daughter's  funeral  cortege  from  Washington 
to  Indianapolis,  and  returned  to  die  in  the  White  House  a  month 
later,  Nov.  29,  1892.  On  the  Sunday  morning  before  he  died, 
hearing  his  niece  at  the  piano  in  an  adjoining  room,  he  asked 
her  to  play  "Abide  With  Me;"  then  with  low  but  steady  voice 
he  sang  all  of  Henry  Francis  Lyte's  hymn: 

14 


Abide  with  me:  fast  falls  the  eventide; 
The  darkness  deepens;  Lord  with  me  abide! 
When  other  helpers  fail,  and  comforts  flee, 
Help  of  the  helpless,  oh,  abide  with  me! 

Not  a  brief  glance  I  beg,  a  passing  word, 
But  as  thou  dwell'st  with  thy  disciples,  Lord, 
Familiar,  condescending,  patient,  free, 
Come,  not  to  sojourn,  but  abide  with  me. 

I  need  thy  presence  every  passing  hour ; 
What  but  thy  grace  can  foil  the  tempter's  power, 
Who  like  thyself  my  guide  and  stay  can  be? 
Thro'  cloud  and  sunshine,  oh,  abide  with  me ! 

Swift  to  its  close  ebbs  out  life's  little  day ; 

Earth's  joys  grow  dim,  its  glories  pass  away : 

Change  and  decay  in  all  around  I  see; 

O  thou,  who  changest  not,  abide  with  me!  • 

—A.  A.  T.,  May  1909. 

TO  PROF.  J.  W.   SCOTT,  OXFORD,  O. 

T.  E.  Thomas  preaches  against  slavery  at  Springfield,  Ohio;  what 
happened.    Butler  County  anti-slavery  society  formed. 

Hamilton,  June  11,  1840. 

On  Saturday  last  I  returned  home,  after  an  absence  of  three 
weeks,  and  a  journey  of  five  hundred  miles.  I  had  a  very  pleas 
ant  trip.  The  weather  was  firm  and  the  roads  good.  I  passed 
through  Dayton,  Springfield,  Columbus,  Granville,  Millersburg; 
and  on  my  return,  Coshocton,  on  the  Tuscarawas;  and  Zanes- 
ville  on  the  Muskingum.  I  saw  a  large  and  very  pleasant  por 
tion  of  our  State,  to  which  I  had  been  an  entire  stranger.  Our 
meeting  at  Massillon  was  a  highly  interesting  one.  For  particu 
lars  I  refer  you  to  the  Philanthropist  of  this  week.  On  my  way 
out  I  stopped  at  Springfield.  Brother  Galloway  had  a  regular 
lecture  that  evening,  (Wednesday),  and  he  asked  me  to  supply 
his  pulpit.  I  promised  to  preach  on  slavery,  to  which  he  con 
sented.  A  pretty  good  congregation  was  collected.  Soon  after  I 
commenced,  three  gentlemen  left  the  house.  The  remainder 
seemed  surprised  and  offended,  at  first;  but  before  I  closed,  they 
were  more  patient  and  attentive.  Next  morning,  as  I  left  the 
tavern,  I  overheard  Wallace,  one  of  the  trustees,  saying  to  an 
other,  "It  is  an  imposition.  We  went  to  hear  the  Gospel  and 
not  to  be  blackguarded  about  abolition!"  On  my  return,  I 
learned  that  the  day  I  left,  the  trustees  of  Mr.  G's  church  met, 
and  passed  a  strong  resolution  of  censure  on  him  for  permitting 
me  to  lecture  on  slavery.  The  congregation  was  quite  in  a  hub 
bub.  Next  Sabbath  Brother  Galloway  preached  on  pulpit  in 
dependence;  and  at  the  close  of  his  discourse,  informed  his  peo 
ple  that  he  was  about  to  leave  them.  He  told  them  of  the  resolu 
tion  passed  by  the  trustees,  which,  I  believe,  prohibited  him  from 

•  15 


introducing  the  subject  of  slavery,  or  allowing  its  introduction 
by  another.  He  informed  them  that  he  would  never  preach  for 
a  church  where  his  mouth  was  closed  on  any  subject  connected 
with  his  message  as  a  minister;  that  he  had  been  with  them 
some  eight  years,  and  that  perhaps  it  was  for  the  best  that  they 
should  separate.  His  people  were  surprised  and  grieved.  Next 
day  the  session  met,  and  with  tears  requested  him  to  reconsider 
his  resolution.  Happily,  that  week  the  day  for  election  of  trus 
tees  arrived.  The  congregation  turned  out  the  old  ones,  first 
requiring  them  to  exscind  and  exchange  their  recorded  resolu 
tion  against  Brother  G. ;  elected  a  new  Board,  and  closed  by  giv 
ing  Mr.  Galloway  full  liberty  to  say  whatever  he  thought  proper 
upon  slavery.  He  himself  gave  me  this  information.  He  said 
that  for  a  week,  he  was  in  great  trouble  about  duty;  but  that 
having  prayerfully  adopted  the  above  course,  he  was  now  re 
joiced  to  find  that  he  was  more  firmly  fixed  in  the  confidence 
and  affections  of  his  people  than  ever  before;  that  he  felt  thank 
ful  Providence  had  now  opened  the  way  for  him  to  plead  a 
cause  which  he  had  long  desired  to  aid,  but  which  he  had  feared 
to  introduce,  lest  the  church  should  be  injured. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  several  good  Old  and  New 
school,  and  Conservative  brethren;  Hitchcock  of  Columbus,  a 
young  man  lately  come;  Little  of  Granville;  Warner  of  Massilon; 
Blodget  of  Euclid;  Pres.  Mahan,  and  Prof.  Morgan  of  Oberlin,  per 
fectionists,  in  a  sad  error,  but  most  amiable,  gentle,  Christian- 
like  men ;  Cr others  and  Dickey ;  and  finally  on  my  return,  Barnes, 
Galloway,  Crane  of  Madison,  Ind.,  Russell,  Coe  and  Hudson,  at 
Franklin,  where  they  had  met  to  install  Brother  H — .  I  found 
a  general  disposition  of  regret  for  the  past,  and  a  desire  of 
friendly  connection  and  intercourse  in  future.  Even  Brother 
Crane,  who  voted  the  excision  act  in  the  Assembly  of  '37,  admit 
ted  that  it  was  with  great  pain  that  he  had  brought  himself  up 
to  the  voting  point,  on  that  occasion. 

We  are  about  to  form  a  Butler  County  Anti-Slavery  Society. 
Last  Thursday  evening,  at  a  meeting  of  our  Hamilton  and  Ross- 
ville  Anti-Slavery  Society,  we  passed  a  resolution,  inviting  the 
abolitionists  of  the  county  to  meet  here  on  the  4th  of  July.  Fri 
day  evening,  July  3d,  we  wish  them  to  be  here;  when  an  ad 
dress  will  be  delivered  by  Blanchard,  or  Brisbane  of  Cincinnati ; 
and  on  Saturday  morning,  at  8  or  9  o'clock,  we  shall  hold  a 
business  meeting,  for  the  adoption  of  a  Constitution,  and  for 
organization.  We  wish  to  meet  that  early,  July  4,  that  we  may 
not  interfere  with  the  other  celebrations  in  the  place.  Perhaps 
we  may  have  a  second  address  during  the  day.  You  best  know 
whether  it  would  be  proper  for  you  to  be  here.  I  should  be  glad 
to  see  you,  did  you  feel  it  your  duty.  At  any  rate,  please  tell 
Mr.  Woods,  and  all  the  abolitionists  of  your  town  and  neighbor 
hood,  and  let  them  come  down,  one  and  all.  We  shall  be  able 

16 


and  happy  to  accommodate  all  who  may  come  on  Friday  after 
noon.  We  are  anxious  to  have  a  large  meeting;  and  to  form  an 
efficient  County  Society.  Tell  Brother  Graham  to  come  down. 
I  am  particularly  desirous  that  he  should  be  present;  Brother 
Robertson,  too;  for  he  is  too  good  an  abolitionist  to  be  absent. 
Let  us  remember  that  we  are  in  bonds,  as  bound  with  them. 
"If  thou  dost  not  deliver  them  that  are  drawn  unto  death,  and 
those  that  are  ready  to  be  slain ;  if  thou  say,  behold  we  knew  it 
not,  doth  not  He  that  pondereth  the  heart  see  it,"  &c. 

TO  PROFESSOR  JNO.  W.  SCOTT. 

How  sliall  abolitionists  vote?    Can  ministers  take  active  part  in 

politics? 

Hamilton,  July  11,  1840. 

A  day  or  two  since,  I  received  a  line  from  Dr.  Bailey,  re 
questing  me  to  forward  to  Jas.  C.  Ludlow,  Esqr.,  the  name  of 
some  individual  who  would  serve  as  a  presidential  elector  on  the 
anti-slavery  ticket.  I  suppose  that  some  one  of  your  citizens 
will  be  suitable;  as  I  have  understood  that  some  of  the  aboli 
tionists  among  you  advocate  a  third  party.  Though  I  am  in 
favor  of  withholding  my  vote,  rather  than  casting  it  for  Birney, 
yet,  as  Dr.  Bailey  says,  if  our  friends  will  vote,  let  them  have 
the  right  sort  of  a  ticket.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  of  no  importance 
which  of  the  two  courses  we  take,  provided  it  be  known  that  we 
adopt  one  or  the  other,  as  a  body,  and  from  principle. 

You  have  seen,  perhaps,  the  call  for  a  county  meeting  at 
Mt.  Pleasant,  to  discuss  the  question  of  duty  in  the  approaching 
election,  and  to  form  a  ticket  such  as  abolitionists  may  properly 
sustain;  I  mean  a  ticket  for  the  county.  The  principal  object 
is  to  pass  a  resolution  declarative  of  our  opposition  to  both 
presidential  candidates  for  their  servility  to  slavery.  I  have 
been  requested  to  address  the  meeting;  and  though  my  opinions 
are  fixed,  and  in  favor  of  such  a  resolution,  and  though  I  ad 
vocated  it  earnestly  at  Massillon,  yet  I  have  had  some  doubts 
respecting  my  duty  as  a  minister  in  connection  with  these 
political  subjects.  On  the  one  hand  I  would  not  venture  too 
far;  nor  interfere  with  matters  that  do  not  concern  me;  and 
injure  my  ministerial  usefulness.  On  the  other  hand,  I  would 
not,  through  a  fear  of  injurious  consequences  to  myself,  neglect 
to  use  any  proper  influence  in  behalf  of  the  slave.  In  mere  party 
politics  I  have  no  desire  to  dabble;  but  in  great  questions  of 
morals  and  public  justice,  ministers,  it  appears  to  me,  are  bound 
to  let  their  voice  be  heard.  John  Calvin  aided  the  Syndics  of 
Geneva  in  political  affairs.  John  Knox  preached  and  prayed 
about  politics.  Rich.  Baxter,  Dr.  Calamy,  and  a  host  of  others, 
used  their  influence  for  the  re-establishment  of  Charles  II. 
Donald  Cargill,  Rich.  Cameron  and  the  Covenanters  meddled 
with  politics.  So  did  Dr.  Witherspoon,  and  the  Presbyterians, 

17 


in  the  revolution,  who  thought  it  not  improper  to  urge  their 
hearers,  from  the  pulpit,  to  battle  in  defence  of  their  liberties. 
It  may  -be  said  that  Paul  did  not  concern  himself  with  the 
political  affairs  of  his  day ;  but  I  would  reply  that  had  Nero  been 
a  candidate  for  the  empire,  and  had  Paul  and  other  Christians 
possessed  the  right  of  suffrage,  he  would  neither  have  supported 
Nero  by  his  vote,  nor  have  failed  to  use  his  influence  with  the 
churches  against  that  tyrant. 

Have  you  seen  Dyer  Burgess'  criticism  on  XcipoiWw  ?  (to 
ordain)  ?  It  is  in  the  Philanthropist  of  June  30.  He  says  that 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  rulers  are  alike  ordained  of  God  through 
the  election,  (lifting  up  the  hand),  by  the  people;  and  that 
voting,  and  voting  properly,  is  a  sacred  duty.  Surely  then  it 
is  not  improper  for  us  to  consult  together  respecting  the  best 
mode  of  discharging  that  duty. 

I  set  out  with  an  intention  of  asking  your  advice  on  this 
subject  of  duty.  I  suppose  you  will  think  I  am  like  the  young 
lady  whom  Burns  mentions  as  requesting  the  opinion  of  her 
sister  on  a  delicate  and  important  affair: 

Come   counsel,    dear   titty,    don't   tarry ; 

I'll  give  you  my  bonny  black  hen 

If  you  will  advise  me  to  marry 

The  lad  I  love  dearly,  Tarn  Glen ! 

We  formed  a  County  Society  the  other  day.  Few  attended; 
but — a  handful  of  corn  upon  the  top  of  the  mountains,  etc.  We 
are  publishing  Dr.  Brisbane's  address,  with  the  Constitution, 
minutes,  etc. 

Please  send  me  the  name  of  some  respectable  man  who  will 
serve  as  elector  on  the  Birney  ticket. 

T.  E.  Thomas. 

FROM  REV.  JOHN  RANKIN. 

Abolitionists  in  the  Harrison  campaign  of  1840. 

Ripley,  Ohio,  July  31,   1840. 
Brother  Thomas: 

I  received  your  kind  letter,  and  I  should  be  happy  to  attend  your 
convention  were  it  practicable.  I  am  somewhat  doubtful  as  to  the  pro 
priety  of  holding  a  convention  for  deliberation  when  men  are  too  excited 
to  deliberate.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  too  near  the  time  of  election  to  answer 
a  good  purpose.  Abolitionists  are  divided  in  sentiment,  and  there  is 
danger  of  alienation  in  case  they  meet  in  contest  at  a  convention. 

I  have  had  much  hesitancy  in  my  own  mind  in  deciding  what  is  best 
to  be  done  at  the  coming  election.  I  have  endeavored  to  examine  the 
matter  with  care.  I  have  set  abolitionism  as  the  highest  interest,  and 
have  endeavored  to  ascertain  what  will,  upon  the  whole,  promote  it.  I 
believe  a  change  in  the  administration  will  be  best  for  abolition.  The 
Van  Buren  party  is  no  less  hostile  than  the  Whig,  and  more  slanderous, 
because  the  more  powerful.  There  is  no  sacrifice  of  principle  in  so  voting 
as  to  keep  out  of  power  the  more  dangerous  party.  It  implies  no  appro 
bation  of  the  party  put  in  power.  Whig  Abolitionists  are  so  situated  that 

18 


they  cannot  avoid  putting  one  of  the  parties  in  power.  If  they  do  not 
vote  for  Harrison,  they  do  as  much  for  Van  Buren  as  so  many  Demo 
crats  who  put  in  their  votes  for  him.  I  abhor  the  Whig  party,  and 
sustain  it  only  because  it  is  the  best  I  can  do  for  abolition,  and  for  the 
country. 

My  belief  is  that  the  Whig  abolitionists  ought  to  distinctly  state  the 
ground  on  which  they  will  vote,  and  then  vote  for  Harrison.  It  is  safer 
for  abolition  to  have  the  weaker  party  in  power.  It  is  plausibly  said 
that  in  voting  for  Tyler  we  sustain  slavery ;  but  there  is  no  truth  in  it. 
Do  we,  when  we  vote  for  a  man  to  do  public  service,  sustain  his  personal 
immoralities?  If  so,  we  could  never  vote  with  propriety.  Where  is  the 
candidate  for  whose  personal  conduct  we  would  be  willing  to  be  held 
responsible?  The  Lord  chose  Saul,  and  Jehu,  but  did  he  approve  of 
their  personal  conduct?  Suppose  a  missionary  in  a  heathen  land  were 
allowed  to  vote  for  chiefs,  and  two  candidates  were  before  the  people, 
both  idolaters,  one  of  them  in  favor  of  extirpating  Christianity,  and  the 
other  an  enemy  to  it,  but  disposed  to  tolerate  it.  Does  the  missionary 
in  voting  for  the  idolater  who  is  in  favor  of  tolerating  Christianity 
sustain  idolatry  by  his  vote?  He  would  sustain  idolatry,  in  such  case, 
were  he  to  stay  from  the  polls  and  refuse  to  vote.  The  principle  I  act  on 
is  that  as  a  citizen  I  am  bound  to  prevent  evil.  If  I  cannot  prevent  it 
all,  I  must  prevent  as  much  of  it  as  I  can.  I  am  bound  to  cast  my  vote 
for  the  better  side  and  against  the  greater  evil.  If  there  be  no  better 
side,  then  I  may  stay  from  the  polls.  If  there  be  no  better  side  then  I 
am  mistaken  in  my  judgment.  I  believe,  upon  the  whole,  there 
is  a  better  side,  and  that  the  interests  of  abolitionism  and  the  nation 
require  a  change  in  the  administration.  The  Democratic  party  are  dan 
gerous  to  our  own  liberty  as  well  as  that  of  the  slave.  If  we  are  to  do 
anything  for  the  liberation  of  slaves  we  must  have  liberty  ourselves,  and 
we  must  have_some  pecuniary  means.  When  I  vote  to  put  the  Whig 
party  in  power,  I  vote  for  the  means  of  doing  something  for  the  slave. 
Convince  me  that  the  parties  have  been  and  still  are  equal  in  dependence 
on  us,  in  power  and  in  all  their  bearings  on  the  question  of  slavery,  and 
I  will  stay  from  the  polls.  But  if  any  difference  does  exist,  so  that  there 
is  a  better  side,  then  you  may  look  for  me  on  that  side. 

If  abolitionists  will  not  fellowship  me,  then  I  will  stand  for  the 
slave  alone,  and  do  what  I  can,  as  I  did  in  days  past.  If  voting  on  this 
principle  is  inconsistent  with  abolitionism,  I  have  always  been  incon 
sistent  and  am  likely  always  to  be  so. 

You  will  now  easily  see  the  principle  on  which  I  act ;  if  it  be  wrong, 
I  am  wrong  of  course.  And  if  so,  I  hope  I  shall  have  your  pity  and 
your  prayers.  If  the  Lord  has  given  you  more  light,  he  will  expect  you 
to  act  in  accordance  with  it.  If  he  has  left  me  in  darkness,  it  is  because 
my  heart  is  wrong,  and  I  am  not  so  willing  as  I  ought  to  be  to  know  the 
truth.  "He  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light." 

"Who  abolished  slavery?"    Beecher  said-'  "John  Rankin  and  his 
nine  sons  did  it."    Note  ~by  Gen.  Birney  about  Rankin. 

NOTE.  "When  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  asked  after  the 
war,  'Who  abolished  slavery?'  he  is  said  to  have  answered,  'Rev. 
John  Rankin  and  his  seven  sons  did  it'.  His  anti-slavery  services 
were  very  great.  Many  Western  men  have  called  him  'the  father 
of  abolitionism' ;  and  it  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  in  the 
thirties  to  hear  him  called  "the  Martin  Luther"  of  the  cause. 
In  1827,  the  year  in  which  New  York  abolished  slavery  within 

19 


her  limits,  John  Rankin  was  one  of  the  five  most  prominent 
advocates  in  this  country  of  immediate  abolition.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  earliest.  Chas.  Osborne  and  Rev.  Geo.  Bourne  date 
as  abolitionists  from  1814;  John  Rankin  and  Benjamin  Lundy 
from  1815,  and  Rev  Jas.  Duncan  from  about  1820.  Of  the  many 
thousands  who  joined  the  modern  anti-slavery  movement  within 
the  first  twelve  years  after  its  revival  at  the  close  of  the  War  of 
1812,  these  five  names  have  been  most  familiar  to  abolitionists, 
and  the  two  brightest  are  those  of  Lundy  and  Rankin.  *  *  *  In 
1822  Rev.  John  Rankin  became  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Ripley,  Ohio,  and  held  the  place  forty-four  years." 
(Jas.  G.  Birney  and  his  Times,  by  his  son,  p.  169.) 

Rev.  John  Rankin  died  in  1886  aged  ninety-three.  He  had 
nine  sons,  seven  of  whom  fought  in  the  Union  army. 

FROM  DR.  SAMUEL  CROTHERS. 

Abolitionism  in  Church  and  State.    Dr.  Crothers  helps  Dr.  Bish 
op's  "Peacemaker". 

Greenfield,  Dec.  24,  1840. 

Yours  of  the  15th  inst.  arrived  this  evening.  I  think  the 
printed  minutes  of  Synod  will  show  that  we  still  adhere  to  the 
principles  of  the  paper  laid  on  their  table  in  the  Fall  of  1836; 
that  we  still  do  not  acknowledge  either  the  Assembly  or  Synod 
as  constitutional  judicatories  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  and 
should  any  one  have  taken  occasion  to  say  that  we  have  changed 
our  own  opinions  as  to  exscinding  acts,  I  doubt  whether  any 
protest  unitedly  presented  or  recorded  on  their  minutes  would 
have  saved  us  from  misrepresentation.  It  was  well  known  by 
those  who  were  present  that  we  stated  distinctly  that  we  should 
feel  ourselves  bound  to  oppose  and  protest  against  any  attempt 
to  carry  out  the  principles  of  these  acts.  The  truth  is,  we  did 
not  consider  anything  besides  the  resolution  adopted  by  Synod, 
necessary  to  satisfy  brethren  of  both  parties,  and  the  world 
too,  that  we  adhere  to  the  principles  expressed  in  conventions; 
nor  does  it  appear  to  me  yet  that  anything  more  was  necessary. 

I  consider  it  a  matter  which  calls  for  thankfulness  that  we 
took  the  course  which  we  did  take,  and  that  it  has  resulted  as  it 
has.  Our  churches  in  this  Presbytery  are  saved.  I  see  no  dis 
satisfaction  in  a  single  instance.  And  Brother  Woodrow  must 
abandon  the  hope  of  thriving  on  our  expulsion. 

I  fully  agree  with  you  as  to  the  wickedness  of  the  present 
division,  and  our  obligations  to  improve  any  opportunity  of  a 
reunion.  But  I  confess  I  do  not  see  what  can  be  done  im 
mediately.  I  consider  myself  bound  to  avoid  unnecessarily 
arousing  the  jealousy  or  wounding  the  feelings  of  our  Old  School 
brethren.  And  it  appears  to  me  that  our  New  School  friends  are 
not  yet  in  a  mood  to  meet  our  advances.  Nothing  has  more  dis- 

20 


couraged  me  from  that  quarter  than  the  manner  in  which  the 
Presbytery  of  Ripley  replied  to  our  proposal,  a  year  ago,  for  a 
joint  committee  to  suggest  regulations  for  promoting  harmony 
and  co-operation  of  the  two  Presbyteries.  Their  reply  was  in 
sulting.  Among  other  things  they  assigned  as  a  reason  for  re 
fusal  that  they  did  not  know  what  we  were  going  to  be,  etc. 

I  wish  we  could  sustain  the  Peace-Maker  another  year,  but 
I  despair  of  it.  I  suppose  it  has  already  been  a  losing  concern 
to  the  publishers,  and  I  fear  it  would  be  no  better  during 
another  year.  If  you  are  all  of  the  opinion  that  it  can  be  sus 
tained,  I  shall  do  what  I  can;  but  I  do  not  say  how  much  that 
would  be.  I  was  both  disappointed  and  mortified  that  we  did 
so  little  for  the  present  volume,  in  this  region. 

As  to  the  new  President  I  have  no  fears.  The  New  School 
Assembly,  in  1836,  in  their  address  to  the  Churches,  said  that 
the  Presbyterian  Church  was  doing  very  well  until  (horresco 
referens)  Associate  Reform  ministers  were  admitted  to  our 
communion,  having  Dr.  Junkin  in  their  eye.  And  I  think  be 
fore  another  year,  Dr.  J.  L.  Wilson  will  be  of  the  same  opinion. 
I  have  more  hope  of  Dr.  Wilson  than  any  of  them.  With  all 
his  faults  he  is  above-board,  and  I  am  more  of  the  opinion  than 
ever  that  he  is  an  honest  man. 

I  believe  that  if  we  can  do  anything  about  slavery,  it  will 
be  done  in  the  Old  School  body.  The  other  is  hopeless — their 
course  is  despicable. 

I  now  ask  you  to  prepare  something  on  the  subject  for 
next  fall.  I  hope  you  will  not  suspect  that  I  am  possessed  of 
that  unclean  spirit,  a  disposition  to  flatter,  when  I  say  I  think 
you  are  the  one  who  should  do  it.  I  believe  that  sin  of  slavery 
is  at  the  bottom  of  all  our  difficulties;  and  I  also  believe  that 
subject  is  likely  to  bring  us  together. 


Dr.  Crothers  was.  perhaps,  first  in  ability,  courage  and  service 
of  early  Ohio  Presbyterian  abolitionists.  Sketch  of  life  and 
publications,  and  influence.  "To  separate  from  the  church 
while  we  are  permitted  to  think,  and  to  speak,  and  to  act,  is 
schism." 

NOTE.  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Crothers,  born  in  Pennsylvania 
about  1782,  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  his  grandmother  having 
lost  both  her  parents  in  the  siege  of  Londenderry.  His  father 
served  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  afterward  emigrated 
to  Kentucky.  There  young  Crothers  attended  the  Lexington 
Academy,  and  afterward  received  his  theological  training  under 
Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Mason  in  New  York  City.  After  teaching  in 
Winchester,  Ky.,  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  Greenfield,  O.,  in  the  Chillicothe  Presbytery,  and  re- 

21 


mained  its  pastor  till  his  death  in  1856;  a  period  of  thirty  six 
years.     His  son  is  now  pastor  of  the  same  church. 

Respected  and  revered  as  one  of  the  fathers  in  the  church 
when  Thomas  E.  Thomas  entered  the  ministry ;  of  great  strength 
and  simplicity  of  character,  courage,  piety  and  zeal,  he  exercised 
a  wide  influence  in  the  early  days  of  Presbyterianism  in  Ohio. 
His  early  prominence  and  distinguished  service  in  the  Anti- 
Slavery  cause,  merit  the  highest  honor.  It  has  been  said  that 
"Dr.  Crothers  was  one  of  the  fathers  of  Anti-Slavery  literature." 
Between  1827  and  1831,  he  published  fifteen  letters  in  the  Cin 
cinnati  Journal;  being  "An  Appeal  to  Patriots  and  Christians, 
on  behalf  of  the  Enslaved  Africans".  In  1833,  he  organized  in 
Greenfield  "The  Abolition  Society  of  Paint  Valley."  In  1835, 
he  wrote  with  quaint  vigor,  letters  which  were  largely  read,  in 
answer  to  Dr.  Young,  President  of  Centre  College,  and  to  Dr. 
Hodge  of  Princeton,  both  of  whom  published  articles  in  extenua 
tion,  if  not  in  defense  of  slavery.  He  was  the  first,  and  perhaps 
the  ablest  of  the  ministers  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  who  made 
the  fight  against  slavery  within  church  bounds,  and  as  a  moral 
question  alone,  with  righteous  indignation  against  such  as  de 
fended  its  iniquities  on  Biblical  authority.  His  influence  was 
potent  with  Drs.  R.  H.  Bishop  and  Jno.  W.  Scott  of  Miami  Uni 
versity,  in  preventing  a  dismemberment  of  the  church  in  the 
West  on  the  slavery  question.  Men  like  Rev.  John  Rankin  left 
the  Presbyterian  Church  organization  because  of  its  pro-slavery 
attitude.  No  one  can  read  the  records  of  the  church  on  this 
subject  without  realizing  what  a  comfort  it  would  have  been  to 
the  friends  of  slavery,  if  Dr.  Crothers  and  the  like  of  him  could 
have  been  induced  to  leave  the  church  and  go  off  by  themselves. 
"We  will  not",  wrote  Dr.  Crothers,  "be  guilty  of  the  sin  of 
schism;  separating  from  the  Church  of  Christ,  while  we  are  per 
mitted  to  think,  and  to  speak,  and  to  act,  is  schism."  More 
truth  cannot  be  put  into  fewer  words.  The  people  took  hold  of 
this  idea  in  a  political  way,  later  on. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  best  of  Dr.  Crothers'  writing  on  slavery, 
appears  on  the  minutes  of  the  Chillicothe  Presbytery;  the  his 
tory  of  which  has  lately  been  published.  *  Because  of  their 
length,  and  being  now  accessible  in  print,  selections  from  these 
admirable  articles  are  not  inserted  here.  In  his  "Life  of  Jas.  G. 
Birney,"  Gen.  Birney,  his  son  states  that  the  sermons  of  Dr. 
Crothers  on  the  subject  of  slavery  have  not  been  preserved.  My 
father  preserved  them;  and  I  have  them  in  his  library  of  "Anti 
Slavery  Papers".  Of  these  sermons,  perhaps  as  memorable  as  any 
were: 

*  ("The  Hist,  of  Chillicothe  Presbytery,  from  its  organization  in  1799 
to  1889,  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  order  of  Presbytery,  by  Rev. 
R.  C.  Galbraith,  D.  D. ;  Pub.  by  H.  W.  Guthrie.  Hugh  Bell  and  Peter  Plat 
ter,  Com.  of  Publication,  Chillicothe,  O.  Scioto  Gazette  Book  Office,  1889). 

22 


1.  "The  Gospel  of  the  Jubilee,  an  explanation  of  the  typical  privi 
leges  secured  to  the  congregation  and  pious  strangers,  by  the  atonement 
on  the  morning  of  the  Jubilee.     Lev.  25 :  9,  46 ;  by  Samuel  Crothers,  Pastor 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Greenfield,  Highland  Co.,  O.     Printed  by  J. 
M.   Walters,    Hamilton,   O.,   1837." 

2.  "The   Gospel    of   Typical    Servitude,   the   substance   of   a   sermon 
preached  in  Greenfield,  Jan'y.  1,  1834,  by  Samuel  Crothers.     Published  by 
the  Abolition  Society  of  Paint  Valley,  Hamilton,  O.,  1835". 

3.  "Strictures  on  African   Slavery  by   Samuel   Crothers.     Published 
by  the  Abolition  Society  of  Paint  Valley,  1835." 

As  showing  the  style  of  Dr.  Crothers,  we  quote  from  the 
above  all  that  space  will  here  permit: 

"In  1.  Tim.  6:2,  the  phrase  believing  despots  (masters)  is  used  in 
reference  to  the  moment  of  their  conversion  to  express  at  once  their  past 
and  present  character.  Some  infer  that  they  continued  despots.  But 
James  tells  us  how  Rahab,  the  harlot,  was  justified.  Did  she  continue  a 
harlot?" 

"Why  are  all  civilized  nations  rising  up  and  declaring  as  one  man 
that  those  outlaws  engaged  in  the  slave  trade  shall  die  the  death?  That 
man  must  be  hackneyed  in  deceit,  and  expert  at  out-witting  his  con 
science,  who  while  he  admits  that  making  property  of  human  beings  on 
the  coast  of  Africa  ought  to  be  punished  with  death,  contends  for  it 
as  a  Christian  employment  on  his  own  farm.  We  admit  that  one  is  a 
more  hazardous  employment  than  the  other;  and  this  is  the  sum  of 
the  difference.  It  requires  courage  to  bolt  into  an  African  village  at 
midnight,  and  in  the  presence  of  those  fierce  warriors,  who  sleep  with 
their  spears  at  their  pillows,  seize  their  little  ones  and  hurry  them  to 
the  slave  ship.  But  the  most  timid  man  can  step  into  an  out-cabin  and 
in  the  presence  of  parents  who  are  in  chains,  seize  their  infant  as  it 
sleeps  in  their  cradle.  Can  a  Christian  hesitate  in  pronouncing  on  such 
conduct?  Does  not  nature  itself  teach  you  that  it  is  a  shame?"  (pp  9- 
10.  The  Gospel  of  the  Typical  Servitude.)  *  *  *  * 

"Our  churches  are  defiled  with  this  sin  and  must  be  cleansed.  That 
loathsome  carcass,  slaveholding,  has  been  lying  in  the  church  for  more 
than  three  hundred  years.  In  the*  eyes  of  many  it  is  a  pest  to  the 
churches'  sacred  furniture.  There  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  pro 
fessed  Christians  who  will  not  permit  it  to  be  removed  or  disturbed. 
An  attempt  to  sell  the  ark  of  the  covenant  would  not  have  produced 
greater  convulsions  in  Israel,  than  an  attempt  to  remove  slavery  from 
some  of  our  churches.  Every  person  and  every  vessel  is  polluted.  Many 
of  our  members  and  ministers  have  grown  gray  in  this  sin.  Some  of  them 
have  acquired  splendid  fortunes  by  buying  and  selling  the  members 
of  the  Saviour's  mystical  body.  If  our  children  in  sabbath  schools  and 
theological  seminaries  use  some  of  the  popular  helps  for  understanding 
the  word  of  God,  they  must  believe  that  Abraham  was  a  thief;  that 
the  Old  Testament  church  was  a  den  of  licensed  manstealers;  that  many 
of  the  statutes  given  at  Mt.  Sinai,  instead  of  being  the  shadows  of  good 
things  to  come,  were  intended  to  encourage  and  regulate  the  slave- 
trade;  and  that  the  traffic  in  bodies  and  souls  which  the  best  and  worst 
of  men  execrate  as  sinful  in  principle  and  ruinous  in  results,  is  a 
divine  institution,"  (p.  19  Gospel  of  Typical  Servitude.) 

"The  importance  of  understanding  the  various  means  of  grace  which 
God  has,  at  different  times,  appointed  in  his  church,  is  generally  ad 
mitted  ;  but  we  have  an  additional  inducement  to  study  carefully  the 
ordinance  of  the  Jubilee.  It  has  long  been  shamefully  misrepresented 
and  abused.  For  centuries  it  has  been  proclaimed  from  the  pulpit  and 
the  press  as  a  divine  license  for  the  slave  trade,  and  a  system  of  slavery 
which,  for  injustice  and  cruelty,  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  the 

23 


world.  It  was  long  quoted  in  justification  of  the  slave-making  wars 
which  for  ages,  desolated  Africa.  It  was  used  as  a  passport  for  those 
slavers  whose  trade  all  nations  are  now  pronouncing  piracy.  It  is  still 
in  the  rnouth  of  every  slaveholder  for  the  sake  of  gain.  It  has  been 
used  by  all  descriptions  of  men,  in  all  departments  of  the  slaveniaking 
concern.  Over  fields  strewed  with  the  dead  bodies  of  innocent  Africans, 
who  had  fallen  in  defense  of  their  wives  and  children ;  over  slaughtered 
villages;  on  the  slave  farm,  and  in  the  slave  ship,  amidst  all  the  hor 
rors  of  the  middle  passage;  in  the  grog-shop,  and  in  the  house  of  God; 
at  the  gaming  board,  and  at  the  Lord's  table;  in  health,  and  in  the 
solemn  hour  of  death;  it  has  quieted  the  consciences  of  men-stealers, 
and  those  who  turn  aside  the  stranger  from  his  rights  under  the  most 
fearful  denunciations  of  the  wrath  of  God."  *  *  *  * 

10.  "If  buying  servants  of  the  Heathen  means  stripping  them  of 
their  freedom  and  holding  them  as  slaves,  the  same  phrase  must  be  under 
stood  in  the  same  way,  throughout  the  chapter.  It  would  seem  then 
that  not  only  had  Israelites  a  divine  license  for  converting  Gentiles 
into  property ;  but  the  Gentiles  had  the  same  license  in  regard  to  Israel 
ites  (see  verse  47),  and  the  younger  brethren  the  same  as  regarded 
their  elder  brother  when  he  waxed  poor — verse  39.  Hence  we  have  a 
statute  which  nullifies  all  the  allegations  imposed  by  the  Sinai  cove 
nant  on  Jews  and  Gentiles  to  love  one  another  when  poor  and  fallen 
into  decay.  The  command  to  relieve  him,  yea  though  he  be  a  stranger, 
or  a  sojourner,  that  he  may  live  with  thee,  was  scarcely  uttered  by  the 
Almighty,  when  it  was  displaced  by  a  sweeping  permission  to  treat 
each  other  as  pirates!  The  direct  tendency  of  this  statute  thus  inter 
preted  would  be  to  make  the  Holy  Land  one  of  those  dens  of  violence 
and  cruelty,  into  which  no  poor  man,  unless  he  was  able  to  whip  every 
man  he  met  with,  would  even  dare  to  set  his  foot.  And  the  fair  appli 
cation  of  it  would  be  this. — the  Scriptures  allow  us  to  enslave  the 
African  stranger  when  he  waxes  poor,  and  it  allows  the  free  African 
to  enslave  us  when  we  wax  poor,  and  he  waxes  rich.  This  wrould  produce 
rare  work  in  some  neighborhoods."  (p.  65  The  Gospel  of  the  Jubilee). 

Dr.  Crothers  was  the  father  of  eleven  children.  During  his 
long  ministry,  six  hundred  and  eighty  three  communicants  were 
added  to  his  church ;  and  fifteen  to  twenty  students  went  to  him 
to  get  their  theological  education,  among  whom  was  Hugh  S. 
Fullerton.  He  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy  while  on  a  visit  to  his 
eldest  son  at  Oswego,  111.  A  few  days  later,  his  body  was 
buried  at  Greenfield,  "with  the  lamentations  of  a  great  multi 
tude  of  his  congregation  and  neighborhood." — A.  A.  T. 

FROM  REV.  DR.  SAMUEL  STEELE. 

Criticisms  of  anti-slavery  methods. 

Hillsboro,    O.,    Jan'y.    22nd,    1841. 
Dear  brother: 

Your  fraternal  epistle  has  been  read  and  pondered  attentively.  It 
is  a  fact  that  our  anti-slavery  press  has  got  so  far  into  the  whirlpool  of 
political  action  that  other  influences  are  well  nigh  overlooked ;  and 
perhaps  the  plan  which  you  suggest  is  as  good  as  any  other  to  enable 
us  as  Christians,  and  ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  discharge  our  duty  to 
God  and  our  fellow  creatures,  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  To  unite  with 
the  brethren  whom  you  name,  in  this  effort,  would  give  me  much 
pleasure ;  and  let  me  suggest  that  it  may  be  best  not  to  form  any  organized 

24 


society ;  for  these  have  become  so  numerous  in  late  years  as  to  excite  the 
derision  of  some  and  to  lead  others  to  think  that  nothing  can  be  done 
that  is  good  without  them.  We  see  each  other  frequently  in  our  respective 
neighborhoods,  as  well  as  at  Presbytery,  and  once  a  year  we  hope  to 
meet  in  Synod.  Besides,  if  anything  of  importance  demanded  it,  we 
could  have  a  meeting  at  any  time  without  such  organization. 

There  should  be  one  person  to  take  charge  of  the  matter,  who  would 
see  to  the  printing,  correcting  the  proof  sheets,  etc.,  and  you  are  the 
very  person.  Perhaps,  too.  the  publication  could  be  issued  from  the 
press  at  Hamilton  on  as  good  terms  as  in  Cincinnati. 

I  will  take  this  opportunity  to  give  my  opinion  as  to  the  spirit 
in  which  the  essays  should  be  writted.  If  in  a  Christian  style, 
without  opprobrious  and  abusive  epithets.  I  am  not  without  hope 
that  we  can  have  access  to  the  Southern  mind  to  some  considerable 
extent.  But  if  wey  copy  the  violence  of  certain  persons  who  shall  be 
nameless,  and  indulge  lavishly  in  such  epithets  as,  man-stealers,  villians, 
murderers,  and  the  like,  we  will  not  only  spoil  our  own  tempers,  but 
defeat  our  object.  That  there  are  slaveholders  of  this  character  cannot 
be  doubted,  but  such  are  not  likely  to  meet  with  our  productions.  And 
while  there  is  manifestly  a  different  class  of  them,  among  whom  are 
found,  in  my  opinion,  truly  pious  persons, — the  only  class  that  we  are 
likely  to  influence  at  present — so  soon  as  a  crusade  of  this  description 
is  preached,  my  name  shall  be  withdrawn.  If  moral,  persuasive,  and 
religious  influence  will  hot  move  them,  we  must  leave  them  to  God's 
providential  dealings,  which  may  come,  I  fear,  in  the  way  of  vengeance. 
The  human  mind  when  heated  with  any  subject  is  prone  to  extremes. 
I  have  heard  brethren  say  they  would  as  soon  commune  with  a  horse- 
thief,  as  with  a  slaveholder;  a  declaration,  in  my  opinion,  evincing  a 
state  of  mind  that  unfits  a  man  for  the  proper  discharge  of  his  duty 
to  his  erring  brethren. 

I  go  not  to  the  Columbus  Convention,  for  various  reasons:  one  is, 
that  it  was  intended  by  many  to  be  a  place  for  political  movements, — 
such  as  taking  up  a  candidate  for  Governor,  etc.  Those  who  feel  free 
to  engage  in  such  meetings,  may  'do  it  without  incurring  my  censure; 
but  I  prefer  staying  away. 

Some  notice  of  your  Presbyterial  difficulties  appeared  in  the  Chris 
tian  Observer.  I  hoped  that  a  course  of  this  kind  would  have  been 
adopted,  viz ;  to  refer  in  general  terms  to  the  amicable  settlement  be 
tween  the  Synod  and  Chillicothe  Presbytery,  and  then  resolve  the  Pres 
bytery  approve  of  that  settlement;  and  are  willing  to  terminate  their 
own  difficulties  on  the  same  principles.  Would  not  this  have  been  agree 
able  to  all?  Our  Presbytery  has  acted  with  us  in  good  faith,  having 
cordially  nominated  a  commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly. 

Present  me  fraternally  to  the  Oxford  brethren  when  you  see  them. 

Dr.  Steeltfs   life  and  influence.    "A   man  greatly  beloved  and 
greatly  loving". 

NOTE.  Itev.  Samuel  Steele,  D.  D.,  son  of  James  and  Ann 
(Smith)  Steele,  was  born  in  the  City  of  Londonderry,  Ireland, 
in  1796.  He  had  his  early  training  in  a  classical  school  taught 
by  Rev.  Jno.  Alexander  of  the  Covenanter  Church.  He  landed  in 
this  country  in  1816;  studied  with  his  brother,  a  minister  near 
Philadelphia,  attended  Princeton  Seminary;  was  for  a  time  pri 
vate  tutor  at  White  Sulphur  Springs,  Va. ;  was  licensed  to  preach 
in  1825,  at  Winchester,  Ky.,  and  preached  for  a  time  there  and 

25 


at  Richmond,  Ky.  After  acting  a  time  as  agent  for  the  Board 
of  Education,  in  the  West,  in  May,  1835,  he  was  installed  as  pas 
tor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Hillsborough,  O.,  and  so  con 
tinued  for  the  next  thirty-five  years,  and  until  his  death  in  1869. 
Dr.  Galbraith,  in  his  history  of  Chillicothe  Presbytery,  says 
Dr.  Steele  was  "a  man  greatly  beloved  and  greatly  loving;"  one 
of  those  who,  holding  long  pastorates  and  being  men  of  grace, 
culture  and  natural  ability,  gave  character  to  and  made  the 
Presbytery  of  Chillicothe.  At  Hillsborough,  he  built  up  a  large 
congregation,  held  them  together  as  long  as  he  lived,  and  when 
he  died  was  greatly  missed,  and  sincerely  mourned.  He  was  as 
unlike  Dr.  Crothers  as  two  men  could  be ;  although  they  were  the 
warmest  friends.  Dr.  Crothers  did  the  fighting:  Dr.  Steele 
was  the  beloved  physician,  pouring  balm  upon  the  wounded,  and 
often,  indeed,  preventing  a  fight." — A.  A.  T. 

FROM  HIS  MOTHER. 

She  thinks  "There  must  le  a  sifting  time."  "God's  judgments 
have  been  lingering."  "The  cry  of  the  poor  blacks  and  In 
dians  has  long  gone  up  to  His  throne." 

My  Dear  Son:  Franklin,  O.  June  7th,  1839. 

Your  account  of  the  Lord's  doings  at  Oxford  rejoiced  my  heart,  and 
reminded  me  very  much  of  the  camp-meeting  held  there  in  '31.  Oh !  that 
the  work  may  continue  until  many  more  souls  shall  be  gathered  in.  I  have 
been  anxiously  looking  for  a  letter  all  this  week  to  hear  the  closing  of 
that  meeting  and  the  termination  of  the  Conservative  Convention;  do  let 
me  know  for  I  feel  anxious.  I  believe  this  to  be  a  very  critical  time 
with  the  pious  people  in  America.  I  cannot  prophesy  what  the  Lord  is 
going  to  bring  about  but  there  certainly  must  be  a  sifting  time:  God's 
judgments  have  been  lingering,  but  certainly  He  is  a  God  that  will  punish 
the  guilty,  and  the  cry  of  the  poor  blacks  and  Indians  has  long  gone 
up  before  His  throne  for  vengeance.  My  ear  has  been  pained  to  hear 
the  excuses  and  pleas  made  for  slavery  by  good  men ;  and  now,  if  the 
anti-slavery  men  will  lay  the  subject  by  as  the  pro-slavery  men  have  done 
for  years,  what  may  we  expect?  Why  exactly  what  has  been  the  case 
with  them  as  one  said  in  the  Assembly,  after  thirteen  years  laying  it 
aside  they  will  preach  to  the  world  that  it  is  not  a  sin  and  is  justified  by 
the  Bible,  or  Confession  of  Faith,  or  something, — for  nowadays  Confes 
sion  of  Faiths  are  our  text-book,  at  least  in  Franklin ;  and  last  Sabbath 
we  had  a  sermon  as  I  do  not  wish  to  hear  again  from  the  decrees  of 
God  in  the  Confession  of  Faith.  I  was  taken  by  guile.  Mr.  H.  has 
been  preaching  from  the  Confession  of  Faith  many  Sabbath  evenings,  and 
I  believe  preached  nearly  all  his  congregation  away,  so  much  so  that  last 
Sabbath  morning  he  told  them  it  was  an  important  subject  and  he  should 
discuss  it  in  the  morning.  I  had  hard  times  to  keep  my  seat,  my  temper, 
and  my  tongue.  I  trembled  every  inch,  and  thought  if  I  once  got  out 
of  there,  I  should  not  get  in  again  in  a  hurry,  indeed  I  am  tired  of  the 
Franklin  Church.  Wednesday  evening,  about  twelve  people,  one  man  to 
pray  and  none  to  sing,  and  half  that  small  congregation  asleep!  not  so 
with  the  Methodists.  Last  night  I  went  to  their  prayer  meeting;  per 
haps  eighty  or  ninety  people,  five  or  six  engaged  in  prayer  in  the  most 
lively,  interesting  manner ;  some  old  Christians  that  appeared  on  the 
threshold  of  eternity,  and  as  if  they  had  a  glimpse  of  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem.  Others,  young  converts  just  brought  in,  appeared  in  earnest, 

26 


thanking  God  that  they  were  plucked  as  brands  from  the  everlasting 
burning ;  and  their  only  desire  seemed  to  be  to  save  souls.  This  cer 
tainly  leaves  a  soul  in  a  better  state  than  a  long  discussion  to  prove 
that  they  are  in  error.  I  know  not  what  to  do.  I  am  not  an  Arininian,  and 
yet  I  am  sure  my  soul  and  the  souls  of  my  children  get  more  good  by 
one  meeting  among  the  Methodists  than  from  ten  among  the  Presby 
terians.  Mr.  H.  has  put  off  to  Kentucky,  and  some  of  his  people  are 
wishing  he  may  be  taken  poorly,  or  as  Dr.  Thomas  used  to  say,  com 
fortably  sick,  and  stop  there  awhile. 

With  Christian  love  to  all  the  Hamilton  friends, 

I  am,  Yr.  affectionate  Mother, 

E.   R.  Thomas. 

FROM  DAVID  H.  BRUEN,  ESQ.,*  A  CLASSMATE  AT  OXFORD. 

Anti-slavery  mobs,  and  abuse  of  colored  men  at  Dayton,  Ohio; 
the  story  told  l)y  Mr.  Bruen,  then  a  lawyer  there. 

Friend  Thomas:  Dayton,  Jany.  27,  1841. 

Knowing  that  you  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  anti-slavery 
cause,  I  send  you  the  following  circumstances  connected  with 
its  history  in  this  place. 

On  Saturday  last  the  Cincinnati  delegates  arrived  here  from 
Columbus,  and  quite  late  in  the  afternoon ;  the  court  house  being 
obtained  for  that  purpose,  handbills  were  posted  up  through 
the  town  giving  notice  that  Ex-Senator  Morris  would  deliver  a 
lecture  there  that  evening,  without  naming  the  subject  upon 
which  he  would  speak.  At  dark,  the  house  being  lighted  and 
fires  made,  Mr.  Morris  and  several  of  the  friends  of  the  cause 
came  in,  and  soon  after  the  room  was  filled  to  overflowing  by  as 
rough  a  looking  set  of  men  as  I  ever  saw.  Mr.  Morris  seeing 
their  complexion  and  evident  purpose,  at  once  told  his  friends  he 
would  not  attempt  to  make  an  address  unless  he  was  requested 
to  do  so  by  the  meeting.  One  of  their  leaders  just  then  entered 
the  Judge's  stand  and  commenced  reading  a  series  of  resolutions, 
such  as  a  mob  only  would  dictate,  denouncing  abolition  and  any 
attempt  Mr.  Morris  might  make  to  lecture  on  that  subject;  while 
another  of  their  number  stood  upon  the  clerk's  desk  cursing  and 
swearing  and  shaking  his  fists  and  calling  for  that  d — d  scoun 
drel  that  had  come  there  to  make  a  disturbance.  The  original 
object  of  the  meeting  was,  of  course,  impracticable;  and  Mr.  Mor- 
.  ris  being  unknown  by  the  mobites,  retired  unmolested.  The 
whole  scene  in  the  Court  House  was  one  of  indescribable  con 
fusion,  disgraceful  to  the  character  of  our  flourishing  town.  They 
called  upon  many  of  the  friends  of  the  slave  to  make  speeches; 
but  were  particularly  clamorous  for  Morris;  their  language  and 
manner  indicating  the  usage  he  would  have  received  at  their 
hand.  Baffled  there,  they  adjourned  to  a  coffee  house  opposite 

*  David  H.  Bruen,  Esq.,  of  Miami  '34,  died  1853.  He  was  a  brother 
of  Maj.  Luther  B.  Brnen,  killed  in  the  Wilderness. 

27 


Dr.  Jewett's,  and  after  consultation,  determined  to  make  a  bon 
fire  of  a  car  belonging  to  the  delegates  who  stopped  with  the 
Doctor.  Getting  wind  of  this,  the  delegates  proceeded  to  har 
ness  their  horses  and  remove  it,  and  just  as  the  driver  was  ready 
to  mount  the  seat,  the  mob  came  upon  them,  throwing  a  shower 
of  brickbats  and  knocked  down  the  driver;  the  horses  becoming 
frightened,  started  and  drew  the  wheels  of  the  car  over  the 
driver,  ran  off,  and  an  hour  after  were  overtaken  a  mile  or  so 
from  the  town.  They  also  egged  Jewett's  house  this  night.  The 
mob  soon  after  dispersed. 

The  next  day,  being  Sabbath,  applications  were  made  to  some 
of  the  churches  for  some  of  the  delegates  who  were  ministers 
to  occupy  their  pulpits;  but  the  applications  were  refused  in  all 
save  the  Baptist  Church.  At  the  monthly  anti-slavery  prayer 
meeting  in  December,  it  was  resolved  that  an  attempt  should  be 
made  to  have  notices  of  the  next  meeting  read  in  the  churches. 
Accordingly  they  were  placed  in  the  different  pulpits,  and  read 
out  in  but  two — the  New  School  and  the  Methodist;  in  the  latter 
it  happened  thus,  a  blind  man  preached,  and  at  the  conclusion 
requested  a  local  preacher,  a  member  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society 
to  read  the  appointments;  he  did  so,  and  read  the  above  notice 
with  the  rest.  Well,  this  announcement  kindled  the  ire  of  the 
mob  afresh,  and  they  considered  themselves  insulted.  They  said 
it  was  defiance  and  decreed  the  prayer  meeting  should  not  be 
held.  All  day  Monday,  the  previous  occurrences  and  meeting  at 
night  were  under  lively  discussion  among  the  citizens.  It 
seemed  a  settled  point  that  Jewett's  house,  the  place  of  meeting, 
would  be  razed  to  the  ground,  and  all  who  attended  in  danger 
of  their  lives.  It  so  happened,  however,  that  through  the  active 
vigilance  of  the  Mayor  and  his  assistants,  the  members  made 
their  way  through  crowds  of  the  mob;  held  a  most  interesting 
meeting,  and  retired  at  9  o'clock  unmolested,  save  by  the  hideous 
yells  of  the  mob.  Unfortunately  the  Mayor  also  soon  after  re 
tired  ;  then  the  fury  of  the  demons  of  darkness  began  and  only 
became  partially  relieved  by  hearing  volleys  of  stones  and  other 
missiles  thrown  at  the  Doctor's  windows  and  against  his  doors; 
and  also  by  battering  to  pieces  the  house  in  which  a  poor  colored 
man  resided  close  by.  After  this  ceased,  a  portion  of  them 
(seven)  went  to  a  negro  house  in  the  suburbs  of  the  town ; 
broke  open  the  door,  pretended  to  be  in  search  of  a  white  woman 
of  loose  character,  and  got  into  a  quarrel  with  four  negro  men. 
The  encounter  must  have  been  a  desperate  one,  for  after  a  long 
struggle,  the  whites  were  driven  off,  leaving  one  of  their  number 
dead  upon  the  ground,  and  one  or  two  others  considerably 
wounded.  You  may  imagine  the  excitement  with  which  our  town 
was  filled  all  day  Tuesday:  the  mob  filled  the  streets  all  day; 
blood,  blood,  was  all  the  cry.  The  negroes  deserted  their  houses 
and  scattered.  Abolition  houses  were  threatened;  neighbor  was 

28 


warning  neighbor,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  last  finish  was  given 
by  circulating  invitations  to  the  funeral  of  a  man  "murdered 
by  a  negro".  The  Town  Council  met;  strengthened  the  police; 
issued  proclamation  to  all  good  citizens,  etc.,  and  this,  with  the 
commitment  to  jail  of  three  or  four  negroes,  had  a  tendency  to 
allay  excitement.  The  police  prevented  anything  from  being 
done,  except  the  burning  of  one  negro  hut. 

FROM  THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY  OF  DAYTON. 

Dayton  Committee  asks  T.  E.  Thomas  to  speak  on  slavery  in 
Dayton. 

From  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  of  Dayton. 

Dayton,  O.,  April  8,  1841. 
Dear  Sir:. 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  of  this  place, 
the  undersigned  were  appointed  a  committee  to  address  you  to 
procure  your  consent  to  deliver  a  public  anti-slavery  lecture  or 
speech  here,  sometime  during  the  present  or  succeeding  month. 
The  committee  believes  no  more  powerful  plea  can  be  urged  for 
your  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Society,  than  that  it  is 
Dayton,  benighted  Dayton,  asks  your  aid.  The  recent  mobs  here 
have,  in  their  own  way,  contributed  much  to  the  advancement  of 
anti-slavery  principles.  The  published  charge  of  Judge  Helfen- 
stein  to  the  grand  jury  has  had  a  salutary  effect  upon  public 
opinion,  and  the  members  of  the  Society  and  other  friends  of  the 
slave  have  labored  with  renewed  energy  and  flattering  prospects : 
the  auspicious  time  seems  to  have  arrived  when  another  public 
effort  should  be  made  to  establish  free  discussion  upon  a  firm 
basis  in  this  city,  and  thereby  make  it  accessible  to  anti-slavery 
lectures. 

D.  H.  Bruen, 
S.  Dunham, 
Committee. 

TO  HON.  CHARLES  ANDERSON,  MAYOR  OF  DAYTON,  OHIO. 

Seeks  to  know  if  there  is  freedom  of  speech  in  Dayton. 

Rossville,  May  29,  1841. 

My  dear  Sir:  In  the  Dayton  Transcript  of  this  day,  I  find 
an  article  headed  "Abolitionism  Again,"  respecting  an  address 
which  I  have  been  invited  to  deliver  in  your  town.  I  say  invited, 
for  the  statement  that  "a  person  calling  himself  Rev.  T.  E.  Thom 
as  appoints"  etc.,  is  altogether  incorrect.  Several  respectable 
gentlemen  of  your  place,  as  a  committee  in  behalf  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  of  Dayton,  requested  me  some  time  since,  to 

29 


address  them  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  This  I  agreed  to  do, 
supposing  that  the  principal  difficulty  would  be  to  procure  an 
audience.  The  manifest  design  of  the  article  above  referred  to, 
is  to  raise  another  riot  and  cause  a  repetition  of  the  unhappy 
and  disgraceful  scenes  of  last  Spring.  I  see,  too,  that  a  petition 
is  to  be  addressed  to  the  Mayor  and  Council  (I  believe  you  have 
the  honor  to  be  the  Mayor,)  requesting  you  "to  PROHIBIT  the 
public  promulgation  of  Anti-Slavery  sentiments  among  you!" 
that  is,  to  destroy,  so  far  as  Dayton  is  concerned,  that  invaluable 
privilege  secured  by  the  constitution  of  our  country,  freedom  of 
speech.  Kemembering  the  friendly  relations  which  have  hitherto 
subsisted  between  us,  (and  I  trust  will  continue,)  I  hastily  drop 
you  these  few  lines,  requesting  by  return  mail  your  views  of  the 
course  likely  to  be  adopted  by  the  authorities  of  Dayton,  respect 
ing  the  proposed  meeting,  if  indeed,  they  deem  it  proper  to  adopt 
any. 

Our  views  doubtless  vary  with  respect  to  the  slavery  ques 
tion;  but  I  feel  confident  that  should  you  or  the  Editor  of  the 
Transcript,  fiery  as  he  appears  to  be,  listen  to  the  sentiments  I 
should  advance  on  the  subject  you  would  find  them  by  no  means 
so  disorganized  as  he  imagines.  The  question,  however,  is  simply 
this,  Do  the  laws  and  constitution  of  Ohio  maintain  their  wonted 
dignity  in  the  town  of  Dayton? 

Respectfully  yours, 

T.  E.  Thomas. 

JOHN  THOMSON  AND  HIS  SONS. 

NOTE.  Mr.  A.  Thomson,  now  Treasurer  of  Wabash  College, 
and  in  1833  roommate  of  T.  E.  Thomas  while  students  in  Miami 
University,  writes  as  follows: 

Crawfordsville,  Ind.,  May  15,  1891. 

Dear  Sir:  My  father,  John  Thomson,  was  born  in  1782,  in  Westmor 
land  County,  Pennsylvania ;  and  he  died  in  1859  at  Crawfordsville,  aged 
86  years.  Father  was  licensed  to  preach  in  Kentucky,  and  came  to  Ohio 
in  1801.  Settling  in  Hamilton  County,  he  located  at  Springdale  (then 
called  Springfield),  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  so  remained 
until  1832,  when  he  removed  to  Crawfordsville.  It  was  during  the  period 
along  about  1820  to  1830,  I  think,  that  your  grandfather  and  my  father 
did  so  much  missionary  work  together.  My  brothers.  James,  John  S., 
William  M.,  and  Samuel  S.,  were  ministers.  James  came  to  Crawfords 
ville  in  1827,  and  took  charge  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  pastor 
of  the  same  until  1838,  when  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  Center  Church, 
and  so  remained  until  1844.  John  S.,  was  elected  Professor  of  Mathematics 
in  Wabash  College  in  1834,  and  continued  such  till  his  death  in  1843.  Samuel 
S.,  was  Professor  of  Latin  in  Wabash  from  1846  until  his  death  in  1885. 
Wm.  M.,  was  born  in  1806  at  Springdale,  O.,  and  left  this  country  as  a 
missionary  to  Palestine  in  1832 :  he  is  now  living  in  Denver,  Colo." 

Rev.  Dr.  William  McClure  Thomson,  who  graduated  at  Miami  Univer 
sity  in  1828,  remained  about  forty  years  in  Palestine,  and  became  well 
known  in  Europe  and  America  as  an  accepted  authority  in  the  department 

30 


of  archaeological  research  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  as  author  of  "The  Land 
and  The  Book." 

FROM    DR.    JOS.    F.    TUTTLE,    IN    "THE    CHURCH    AT    HOME    AND 

ABROAD. 

Who  founded  Wabash  College?      One  result  of  the  Oxford 
Mission  Band's  "failure." 

"Wabash  College  originated  in  home  missions.  The  father  of  the 
thought  was  Rev.  James  Thomson,  who,  when  an  undergraduate  at  Miami 
University,  told  President  Bishop  of  his  purpose  to  found  a  college  some 
where  in  the  Wabash  country.  In  1827  he  became  the  first  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Crawfordsville,  an  infant  town  on  Sugar  Creek, 
a  tributary  of  the  Wabash.  His  original  purpose  was  not  forgotten,  and 
it  was  frequently  discussed  with  the  few  home  missionaries  occupying  the 
field.  They  were  known  as  "the  College  Brotherhood"  from  their  interest 
in  a  college  which  existed  only  in  their  hearts.  It  included  James  Thom 
son,  his  brother,  John  S.,  Jas.  A.  Carnahan,  Edmund  O.  Hovey,  Martin 
M.  Post  and  Samuel  G.  Lowry — all  young  men  in  the  active  ministry. 
With  them  were  associated  the  Elders  of  the  Crawfordsville  church,  espec 
ially  one  who  previously  had  been  prominent  in  founding  Hanover  College. 
I  refer  to  Williamson  Dunn,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  for  several  years  a 
resident  at  Hanover,  Indiana,  and  an  Elder  in  that  church.  He  came  to 
Crawfordsville  in  1823  as  register  of  deeds  of  the  land  office,  and  in  1829 
he  returned  to  Hanover.  He  was  a  noble  Christian  man,  giving  to  Hanover 
College  in  1825,  the  land  on  which  to  erect  its  first  building,  and  in  1832 
to  Wabash  College  its  original  site." 

FROM  GAMALIEL  BAILEY,  M.  D. 

Suggestions  for  the  meeting  of  the  Ohio  Anti-Slavery  men. 

Mr.  Bayle: 

Read  this  letter,  and  please  hand  it  to  Thomas  if  he  should  be 
there;  or,  if  not,  to  Theo.  D.  Weld. 

Cincinnati,  Jany.  11,  1841. 
Rev.  T.  E.  Thomas, 
Dear   Friend: 

I  may  not  be  present  at  the  convention  at  Columbus,  and  as  you 
will  be  a  leader  there,  let  me  suggest  a  few  things  to  your  special 
attention. 

1.  You   and  Bayle,   Weld  and  Butts,   Barber   and   Guthrie,   if   he 
be  there,  and  Blanchard  and  White  ought  to  arrange  the  preliminaries 
of  the  meeting. 

2.  The  call   ought  by  all  means  to  be  read  by  the  one  who  calls 
the  meeting  to  order.     It  will  be  found  in  the  Philanthropist  of  Decem 
ber  16th,  which  I  send  you  by  this  mail.    It  embraces  all  persons,  whether 
members  of  anti-slavery  societies  or  not,  who  believe  in  the  doctrine  of 
immediate  emancipation,  and  are  opposed  to  voting  for  pro-slavery  can 
didates  for  office. 

3.  You  ought  to  have  half  a  dozen  or  more  Vice  Presidents,  to  give 
the  convention   an   important  appearance. 

4.  Be  sure  and  appoint  first  rate,  careful  scribes.     No  matter  how 
really  interesting  a  meeting  may  be,  unless  your  secretaries  be  excellent, 
it  will  look  meagre  and  flat  on  paper.     I  have  always  had  to  write  the 
minutes  out  myself. 

31 


5.  Purdy  will  probably  be  there.     He  is  an  amiable  man,  but  will 
make  you  trouble  unless  you  give  him  some  office.       Make  him  a  Vice 
President. 

6.  I  wrote  to  Leicester  King,  requesting  his  presence.     I   guess  he 
will  not  be  there.     General   Paine  of  Painesville   will  be  the  next  best 
man  for  the  chair,  I  think. 

7.  For  the  sake  of  everything  precious  in  our  cause,  make  no  question 
about  woman's  rights.     Several  of  our  Quaker  friends  will  be  there  with 
their  wives,  mothers,  etc.     By  all  means  admit  them  all  as  delegates,  if 
they  apply.    Let  their  names  be  enrolled  without  question.    There  is.  just 
now   a  great  deal  of  jealousy  on  this  point,  owing  to  eastern  quarrels. 
There  need  be  none.     We  have  always  left  the   whole  question   to  the 
good  sense  of  the  women.     Let  the  same  course  be  pursued  in  the  con 
vention. 

8.  As  regards  opening  the  meetings  with  prayer,   there  is   a  slight 
difficulty,    easy    to    overcome.      The    Quakers, — you    know    their    customs. 
Many   of  them,   among  the  rest,   Joseph   Dugdale,   a   most   amiable   and 
influential  man  in  his  seat,  will  be  present.     They  have  been  constantly 
censured  by  their  brethren,  for  joining  with  others  in  this  enterprise,  and 
violating  their  consciences.     Let  us  save  them  as  much  as  we  can ;   re 
spect    their    consciences    without    violating    our    own.      Instead    of    the 
chairman  calling  on  some  one  to  pray,  in  the  opening  of  every  meeting, 
let  there  be  a  pause;  and  also  at  the  final  close.     Any  one  who  chooses, 
may  of  course  offer  up  a  prayer  voluntarily,  during  such  a  time.     This 
would  not  offend  the  Quaker;  only  lay  aside  the  form.     You  can  easily 
manage  all  this,  by  previous  consultation  with  the  chairman,  and  having 
the  matter  understood  among  the  leading  members.     We  owe  it  to  our 
Quaker  friends. 

9.  Unless   you  adopt   a   rule,   restricting  speakers  to   ten  or   fifteen 
minutes  on  any  question,  you  can't  get  along. 

10.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that  on  Wednesday  evening,   there  should 
be  a  regular,  set  address  from  some  able  speaker;  after  that,  discussion 
of  the  business  of  the  convention ;  also  that  Thursday  A.  M.  there  should 
be    another    address;    and   one   that   evening.      Perhaps   one   or    two    on 
Friday  morning;  of  this  you  can  best  judge  on  the  spot.     You  ought  to 
deliver  one  address ;  Mr.  Keep  and  Mr.  Weld  another.     He  has  written 
to  me,  signifying  his  intention  to  be  there,  and  his  desire  to  say  something 
of  his  doings  in  the  World's  Convention.     Mr.  Blanchard,  of  course,  must 
give  an  address. 

11.  The  political   and  financial  power  of  slavery  should  be  handled 
by  somebody  pretty  thoroughly.     Get  Morris  to  do  this. 

12.  I  do  hope  you  will  take  the  ground  that  no  abolitionist  ought 
to  vote  for  a  pro-slavery  man ;  and  I  hope  too  that  you  will  recommend 
to  abolitionists  to  adopt,  as  a  general  rule,  independent  nominations. 

13.  Bring   the    subject   of    the    Philanthropist    specially    before    the 
meeting.     Nearly  all   benevolent  papers  need   extra   aid.     They  have  no 
advertising  patronage  to  depend  on.     The  Philanthropist  has  a  very  large 
exchange  list.     This  is  one  source  of  great  expense.     A  large  number  of 
copies   is   circulated   gratuitously.     We   supply   Congress,    and  our    State 
Legislature,   and   should  like   to  be  able  to   send  to  the  Indiana   Legis 
lature.     More  than   300  papers   are   consumed   in  this   way.     The   State 
Treasury  is  now  very  much  in  debt.     We  came  near  stopping  the  paper 
this   Winter.     Never   was  there   such   a   field  for  doing  good,   could   we 
but  keep  the  paper  on  its  legs. 

I  have  thus  made  all  these  suggestions.  They  may  seem  dicta 
torial.  They  are  not  so.  You  will  of  course,  do  with  them  what  you 
please.  I  have  hitherto  so  constantly  attended  all  State  meetings  and 
have  so  frequently  attended  to  all  details,  that  I  thought  a  few  sugges 
tions  not  amiss.  Please  excuse  me. 

32 


II 

TO  PROFESSOR  J.'W.  SCOTT,  OXFORD. 

On  Dr.  Jurikin,  and  his  opposition  to  anti-slavery  effort  at  Ox 
ford. 

Rossville,  Feb.  7,  1842. 

It  afforded  me  much  pleasure,  as  well  as  some  pain  to  receive 
your  long  communication  last  week. 

So  your  good  congregation  has  resolved,  by  a  majority  of 
one,  that  no  more  ab-o-li-tion,  as  our  friend,  Mr.  Graham,  calls 
it,  shall  be  preached  in  your  church !  *  *  *  * 

No,  Sir, — I  hope  to  preach  an  anti-slavery  sermon  yet,  in 
your  church, — aye,  and  in  the  very  face  and  eyes  of  Dr.  Junkin, 
unless  he  fears  to  meet  the  truth.  *  *  *  * 

A  word  or  two  as  to  the  minority-effort  to  purchase  the 
church.  You  ask  whether  our  people  would  not  aid  you.  You 
are  aware  that  we  have  a  debt  yet  unpaid  upon  our  own  church ; 
but,  what  would  be  a  still  more  serious  difficulty,  your  anti- 
abolition  majority  would  still  adhere  to  you,  even  after  you  shall 
have  purchased  the  building.  And  what  assurance  could  we 
have  that  freedom  of  ministerial  speech  would  be  tolerated?  By 
the  way,  will  you  procure  for  me  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  pro 
posed  and  carried  by  Dr.  J ?  It  is  time  that  anti-slavery  men 

should  know  the  true  principles  of  the  man  who  stands  at  the 
head  of  Miami  University. 

Dr.  Junkin;  his  education.  Influences  that  brought  about  his 
presidency  at  Miami.  Dr.  Bishop  brings  on  debate  about 
slavery  between  T.  E.  Thomas  and  Dr.  Junkin.  Results  of 
its  publication.  Dr.  Junkin' s  later  patriotism  and  service. 

NOTE.  Rev.  Geo.  Junkin,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  was  graduated  at 
Jefferson  College  in  1813.  He  studied  theology  under  Dr.  Mason, 
in  New  York  City,  and,  while  engaged  in  pastoral  work,  after 
establishing  the  Milton  Academy  and  the  Penn.  Manual  Labor 
Academy,  he  became  the  first  President  of  Lafayette  College,  at 
Easton,  Pa.  In  the  management  of  this  institution,  he  was  ener 
getic  and  successful ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  he  became  prominent, 
active  and  persistent  in  bringing  about  and  prosecuting  those  doc 
trinal  contentions,  charges  and  "trials"  which  resulted  in  the 

33 


disruption  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  into  its  Old  and  New 
School  divisions. 

The  influences  which  had  brought  about  the  removal  of  Dr. 
Bishop  from  the  Presidency  of  Miami  University  by  its  Board 
of  Trustees,  induced  them  to  call  to  that  position  Dr.  Junkin :  he 
accepted  and  entered  upon  his  duties  in  April  1841.  The  work 
devolving  upon  the  new  President  was  not  pleasant:  probably 
no  one  could  have  performed  it  with  satisfaction  and  success. 
About  him  rallied  and  exulted  all  to  which  the  character  and  prin 
ciples  of  Dr.  Bishop  had  ever  stood  opposed ;  and  most  prominent 
ly  among  these  were  first,  the  pro-slavery  element;  and  second, 
those  who  held  sectarian  views  so  narrow  that  they  were  proud 
of  the  late  dismemberment  of  the  church.  Still  it  seems  indis 
putable  that  those  who  held  these  views  constituted  the  bulk  of 
the  membership,  or  at  least  of  the  leadership  of  the  Old  School 
Presbyterian  Church  in  that  day. 

The  biographer  of  Dr.  Junkin  has  written,  in  explanation 
of  his  brother's  difficulties,  that  "about  this  time  abolitionism 
was  at  its  height."  In  no  proper  sense  can  abolitionism  be  said 
to  have  reached  its  "height,"  until  that  night  in  April,  1865, 
when  Grant  wrote  Sheridan  not  to  go  against  the  Southside 
railroad,  but  to  stay  with  him,  for  "he  felt  like  ending  the 
matter." 

In  1843,  in  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  which  met  in  T.  E. 
Thomas'  church  at  Hamilton,  Ohio,  Dr.  Bishop  introduced  cer 
tain  resolutions  against  slavery  that  brought  on  the  debate 
between  Dr.  Junkin  and  T.  E.  Thomas,  which  is  sufficiently  re 
ferred  to  elsewhere  in  this  correspondence.  Its  publication  soon 
afterwards,  seems  to  have  given  satisfaction  to  both  parties:  it 
made  a  longer  continuance  of  Dr.  Junkin  at  the  head  of  Miami 
University  impossible;  but  his  argument  in  defense  of  slavery 
was  widely  circulated  and  commended  in  the  Southern  States. 
The  pro-slavery  element  in  the  church  gave  him  the  first  and 
highest  reward  in  its  power;  it  made  him  Moderator  of  the  next 
General  Assembly,  which  met  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1844.  Custom 
entitled  him  to  be  returned  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  and 
to  be  chairman  of  its  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures  to  whom 
were  sent  all  memorials  against  slavery.  This  committee  rec 
ommended  that  they  be  sent  to  a  special  committee,  of  which  the 
chairman  was  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice.  This  Committee  reported  the 
notorious  Act  on  Slavery  of  1845,  so  often  referred  to  in  this 
volume. 

When  the  Rebellion  broke  out,  Dr.  Junkin  was  seventy-one 
years  old.  From  the  beginning  of  the  attempt  to  carry  Virginia 
into  secession,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  all  that  he  did  merits  the 
highest  honor. 

In  the  next  seven  years,  it  is  said  Dr.  Junkin  delivered 
about  seven  hundred  sermons,  and  political  addresses  sustaining 

34 


the  cause  of  the  Union  and  its  defenders.  His  activity  during 
this  period  amazed  his  friends.  Though  not  a  delegate,  he 
attended  the  General  Assembly  at  Philadelphia,  in  1861;  and 
warmly  advocated  the  celebrated  Spring  Kesolutions  adopted  by 
that  body.  In  this,  his  conduct  brought  upon  him  the  criticism 
of  many,  including  probably  his  brother  and  biographer,  whose 
Scotch-Irish  proclivities  inclined  them  to  be  splitting  hairs  about 
constitutional  checks  and  balances,  when  the  rebel  flag  was  in 
sight  of  the  National  Capitol.  These  things  could  not  move  him, 
for  the  patriotism  of  Dr.  Junkin  was  now  "at  its  height."  While 
the  war  lasted,  he  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  relieve  the 
suffering  from  both  armies,  in  the  field,  the  hospital  and  the 
prison.  He  was  said  to  have  been  the  first  non-combatant  on 
the  field  of  Gettysburg  on  an  errand  of  mercy. — A.  A.  T. 

Dr.  Junkin's  Synodical  Speech  in  defense  of  American  Slav 
ery,  was  published  in  Dec.,  1843.  My  father  wrote  and  published 
a  Review  of  this,  in  a  pamphlet  of  130  pages,  to  which  he  gave 
more  labor  than  anything  that  ever  came  from  his  pen.  It  be 
gins  thus : 

"We  have  just  received,  through  the  politeness  of  the  printer,  a  pam 
phlet  of  some  eighty  pages,  bearing  the  above  title.  Abolitionists  have 
been  compelled  to  exclaim,  in  the  language  of  Job,  "O  that  one  would 
hear  me !  *  *  *  and  that  mine  adversary  had  written  a  book !"  Accustomed 
to  meet  in  deliberative,  legislative,  and  we  are  sorry  to  add,  in  ecclesias 
tical  bodies,  no  other  opponent  than  a  silent  but  overwhelming  vote;  and 
to  find  all  opportunity  of  advocating  the  truth  cut  off  by  the  paltry  trick 
of  raising  the  question  of  reception,  or  the  man-trap  of  the  Previous  Ques 
tion,  they  cannot  but  hail  it  as  an  omen  of  good,  and  rejoice  as  in  a  sure 
pressage  of  final  success,  when  the  defenders  of  slavery  are  compelled  to 
meet  them  in  debate ;  and  especially,  when  they  are  willing  to  stamp  their 
thoughts  on  the  enduring  page.  Certainly  we  rejoiced,  (though  our  joy 
was  mingled  with  regret  for  the  mischief  it  would  occasion,)  when  first 
we  heard  that  the  notorious  synodical  speech  of  the  President  of  Miami 
University,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  printer.  We  regard  its  publication  as 
an  important  step  toward  the  thorough  and  universal  investigation  of  the 
slavery  question,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church." 

There  follows  to  this  pamphlet  this: 
APPENDIX. 

Just  as  the  preceding  pages  were  prepared  for  the  press,  we  received 
the  following  communication  from  the  venerable  Dr.  Bishop,  which,  with 
the  accompanying  letter,  we  here  present  to  the  public. 
My  Dear  Friend : 

I  make  free  to  forward  you  a  few  of  my  Christmas  thoughts  on  the 
Eight  hours  speech.  If  it  is  agreeable  to  you,  and  if  you  shall  be  convinced 
that  it  will  be  of  any  service,  either  to  you,  or  the  good  cause,  you  may 
have  them  printed  and  published  in  the  form  in  which  they  now  stand,  at 
the  close  of  your  full  and  particular  reply  *  *  *  Provided  we  have  come  to 
the  same  result,  it  may  be  a  benefit  to  the  cause,  with  some  minds,  to  see 
that  the  very  same  conclusions  maybe  obtained  by  a.  somewhat  different 
arrangement,  or  different  mode  of  reasoning.  *  *  *  *  May  the  Lord  bless 
and  direct  and  support  you.  Sincerely  yours, 

R.  H.  Bishop. 

Oxford,  Ohio,  December  26,  1843. 

35 


SUMMARY  REVIEW 

Dr.  Junkin's  late  pamphlet,  of  79  pages,  demands  some  attention ;  for — 
I.    A  publication  of  this  kind  must  be  very  acceptable  to  the  many, 
both  within  and  without  the  visible  church,  whose  consciences  are  some 
what  awakened  to  the  inconsistency  of  American  slavery  with  Christian 
character,  and  Christian  standing. 

II.     The  form   in  which   the  argument   is  presented,  is  exceedingly 
plausible;  and  yet, 

III.  The  whole  argument,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  deceptive: — only 
fallacy  upon  fallacy." 

I  omit  Dr.  Bishop's  text,  giving  only  one  paragraph  to  get  a 
touch  of  his  mind  on  the  subject. 

"The  duties  to  their  servants,  whether  believing  or  unbelieving,  directly 
enjoined  upon  believing  masters,  are  of  such  a  nature,  that,  if  they  were 
punctually  and  faithfully  performed,  they  would  naturally  abolish  slavery 
in  every  Christian  family,  in  less  than  one  generation.  These  duties  and 
directions  are  still  enjoined  and  addressed,  by  the  same  authority,  to  every 
Christian  church,  and  to  every  Christian  man ;  and  if  they  were  under 
stood,  and  honestly  attended  to,  the  results  would  be  just  what  they  were 
in  the  apostolic  days." 

OVERTURE  OF  OXFORD  PRESBYTERY  TO  THE  GENERAL  ASSEM 
BLY  ON  SLAVERY. 

To  the  Moderator  and  Members  of  the  General  Assembly: 

The  Presbytery  of  Oxford  respectfully  and  earnestly  request  the 
General  Assembly,  at  their  present  meeting,  to  adopt  some  course  of 
action,  by  which  the  Assembly's  act  of  1818,  relative  to  slavery,  may  be 
rendered  efficient. 

March  17,  1842. 

Ayes:  J.  W.  Scott,  Moderator;  A.  B.  Gilliland;  P.  N.  Galliday ;  T.  E. 
Thomas;  Wm.  Patterson;  S.  B.  Smith;  Elders,  Neri  Ogden ;  A.  B.  An 
drews;  M.  C.  Williams;  M.  C.  Browning.  Nayes :  A.  Craig;  J.  McArthur ; 
T.  E.  Hughs.  Elders,  Geo.  Arnold;  Thomas  Dungan ;  John  McGahen. 
Non  Liquet,  D.  B.  Reece. 

A  true  extract  from  the  minutes  of  Oxford  Presbytery. 

Thomas  E.  Hughs,  Stated  Clerk. 

Rev.  James  Gilliland.     Service  as  abolition  leader  in  Southern 
Ohio.    His  son,  Rev.  Adam  B.  Gilliland. 

NOTE.  Rev.  James  Gilliland  was  born  in  North  Carolina 
in  1769;  graduated  from  Dickinson  College,  and  became  pastor 
of  the  Broadway  Church  in  South  Carolina,  in  1796.  Twelve 
members  of  his  congregation  protested,  charging  him  with 
"preaching  against  the  government:"  this  he  denied,  but  admit 
ted  he  had  preached  against  the  sin  of  slavery.  The  Presbytery 
enjoined  him  "to  be  silent  in  the  pulpit  on  the  subject."  The 
Synod  on  appeal,  held  that  "to  preach  publicly  against  slavery 
would  open  the  way  to  great  confusion."  To  reach  a  land  of  free 
speech,  he  removed  to  Brown  Co.,  Ohio,  in  1805,  where  he  became 
and  remained  pastor  of  the  Red  Oak  Church,  and  preached 
constantly  against  slavery  for  the  next  thirty-five  years.  In 
1820  he  published  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject  that  had  a  wide 
circulation.  Gen.  Birney  says  that  "from  1805  to  1822,  he  was 
the  recognized  abolition  leader  in  Southern  Ohio."  Abolition- 

36 


ists  are  justly  deserving  of  rank  according  to  their  respective 
priorities  of  date.  Rev.  James  Gilliland  was  the  first  Presby 
terian  minister  on  the  roll.  The  Dickeys  and  Crothers  came 
later;  and  Rev.  John  Rankin's  date  was  1815. 

Rev.  James  Gilliland  died  in  1845;  was  the  father  of  thir 
teen  children,  two  of  whom  were  lawyers,  and  one  a  Presby 
terian  minister. 

The  latter,  Rev.  Adam  B.  Gilliland,  wTas  born  in  North  Caro 
lina,  in  1794;  graduated  at  Jefferson  College  in  1821;  studied 
theology  with  his  father  at  Red  Oak;  became  pastor  at  Hillsbor- 
ough,  Ohio;  and,  in  1829,  took  charge  of  Bethel  Church,  Butler 
Co.  Ohio,  where  he  remained  ten  years.  It  was  at  his  house  and 
church  there,  on  a  communion  occasion,  that  the  accidental  meet 
ing  between  Thomas  Thomas  and  Dr.  Bishop  took  place,  which 
gave  my  father  his  opportunity  for  an  education.  Dr.  Thomas  left 
the  church  at  Harrison,  O.,  chiefly  to  bring  about  an  exchange 
which  made  Rev.  Mr.  Gilliland  pastor  of  the  Church  at  Venice, 
which  Rev.  Thomas  Thomas  had  built,  and  where  Mr.  Gilliland 
continued  for  the  next  twenty  years.  He  died  in  1885,  at  the 
home  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  A.  W.  Anderson,  in  Dayton,  O.,  and 
was  buried  near  Thomas  Thomas  in  the  church  yard  at  Venice,  O. 

As  a  delegate  in  the  General  Assembly  of  1845,  the  name  of 
Adam  B.  Gilliland  has  the  honor  of  being  one  of  the  thirteen 
recorded  against  the  Resolution  of  Dr.  Nathan  L.  Rice,  assert 
ing  the  Biblical  sanction  of  slavery,  adopted  that  year. — A.  A.  T. 

FROM  REV.  DR.  SAMUEL  CROTHERS. 

Dr.  Jurikin  in  the  slave  controversy.    Shall  the  Church  divide  on 

the  question? 

Greenfield,  Ohio,  Nov.  7,  1843. 

For  some  weeks  past  I  have  purposed  to  write  to  you  in  a  day  or 
two,  but  have  daily,  by  some  means  or  other,  been  prevented.  I  wish  to 
say  that  the  community,  so  far  as  I  know  public  sentiment,  are  expecting 
you  to  publish,  in  some  way  or  other,  a  review  of  Dr.  Junkins  speech  in 
favor  of  the  tolerated  evil,  slaveholding.  From  the  self-complacency 
manifested  at  Hamilton,  I  have  supposed  he  will  be  simple  enough  to 
publish  in  pamphlet  form.  In  that  event,  your  speech  in  reply,  so  far 
as  you  can  recollect  it,  ought  by  all  means  to  follow.  My  principal  object 
in  writing  now  is  to  say  that  I  have  no  intention  of  answering  him.  For 
many  reasons  which  are  obvious  and  which  need  not  be  dilated,  the  public 
will  expect  you  to  do  it.  Even  if  it  should  be  ascertained  that  Junkin 
will  not  publish,  I  think  you  ought  to  review  his  speech.  It  could  b£ 
circulated  in  pamphlet  form,  and  distributed  in  the  same  way  that  "Facts 
for  the  People"  are  circulated. 

I  supposed  that  Dr.  Junkin's  good  opinion  of  his  performance  will  be 
increased  if  it  be  true,  as  the  Presbyterian  of  the  West  insinuates,  that  he 
lent  it  to  Mr.  Graham,  and  that  none  of  the  new  school  Synod  at  Carlisle 
undertook  to  reply ;  and  that  "Professor  Stowe,  the  best  qualified  to  judge, 
admitted  that  the  interpretation  and  principles  of  interpretation  were  cor 
rect".  I  cannot  think  of  Graham  subscribing  the  pastoral  letter  written 
by  J.  H.  Dickey  against  the  horrible  sin  of  slavery,  and  then  using  the  ar 
guments  of  Dr.  Junkin  against  the  horrible  sin  of  abolitionism,  without 
indulging  myself  in  old  Dr.  Nesbit's  famous  soliloquy — "poor  human 
nature".  37 


I  believe  the  discussion  at  Hamilton  has  been  productive  of  good.  I 
have  heard  from  Cincinnati  and  other  quarters,  the  opinion  of  men  of 
the  world,  who  were  spectators,  and  the  prevailing  opinion  appears  to  be 
that  Dr.  Junkin  must  alter  his  course  or  leave  Miami  University. 

We  had  two  days  of  powerful  lecturing  by  those  Garrison  men, 
White  and  Douglass,  in  this  place,  lately.  The  latter  is  an  extraordinary 
man.  He  has  the  talents  of  T.  D.  Weld,  and  the  self-complacency  of 
Junkin.  I  think,  upon  the  whole,  he  did  much  good.  But  I  confess,  I 
do  not  like  to  be  identified  with  Garrison  abolitionists.  I  believe  the 
machinery  which  they  are  employing  is  calculated  to  overturn  every  good 
institution,  human  or  divine;  and  the  sooner  it  is  known  that  they  and 
we  belong  to  schools  entirely  different,  the  better  it  will  be  for  the  cause 
of  truth  and  righteousness  in  general,  and  abolition  in  particular. 

My  mind  has  not  undergone  any  change  on  the  subject  of  our  late 
correspondence.  I  consider  secession  as  very  unwise.  But  I  am  not  sure 
that  I  shall  not  vote  against  sending  a  commissioner  to  the  next  General 
Assembly.  To  our  vote  on  that  question  at  the  last  meeting  of  our  Presby 
tery,  we  are  indebted,  in  my  opinion,  for  the  fine  speech  at  Synod  by 
brother  Steele.  And  some  movement  of  that  kind,  in  future,  will  be 
necessary  to  keep  up  the  abolition  steam  of  him  and  some  others.  Next 
week  he  expects  to  bring  home  a  wife,  the  daughter  of  Rev.  R.  Stewart 
of  West  Lexington  Presbytery,  a  slaveholder;  but  it  is  said  she  has  liber 
ated  her  slaves,  four  in  number. 

Dr.  Bishop;  his  origin,  history,  poverty,  character,  education. 
Does  not  "drift  to  Kentucky".  Goes  to  Lexington;  indicted 
for  opening  sabbath-schools  for  slaves.  Called  to  Miami. 
What  students  could  get  from  him,.  His  definition  of  Pres- 
byterianism.  Resists  disruption  of  the  church.  Activity  as 
an  anti-slavery  man,  and  its  consequence.  Removal,  and  de 
fense  against  charges.  Injury  to  Miami  resulting.  His 
death;  will;  burial. 

NOTE.  Kev.  Robert  Hamilton  Bishop,  D.  D.,  was  born  about 
twenty  miles  from  the  City  of  Edinburgh,  in  Linlithgowshire, 
in  1777.  He  was  one  of  a  family  of  seventeen  children.  His 
father's  name  was  William  Bishop,  and  Robert  H.  was  the  eldest 
of  thirteen  children,  the  issue  of  his  marriage  to  his  second  wife, 
Margaret  Hamilton.  His  more  remote  ancestors  were  zealous 
covenanters,  and  suffered  in  the  persecutions.  His  parents  be 
longed  to  the  Secession  Church,  and  had  the  character,  piety, 
plainness  and  poverty  of  that  peasantry  which  is  the  wonder 
and  glory  of  Scotland. 

Placed,  when  very  young,  in  a  primary  school  where  the 
chief  books  used  were  the  Bible  and  the  Shorter  Catechism,  he 
thoroughly  memorized  these,  and  they  continued  to  be  the  chief 
books  to  him  throughout  his  life.  When  twelve  years  old,  he 
became  a  member  of  the  church  then  under  the  charge  of  Dr. 
John  Brown,  a  son  of  John  Brown  of  Haddington,  and  father 
of  Dr..  John  Brown  of  Edinburgh.  *  The  latter  was  his  school 
and  college  mate  and  correspondent  in  after  years. 

*  Author  of  Rab  and  His  Friends. 

38 


Like  the  father  of  Thomas  E.  Thomas,  Robert  H.  Bishop 
passed  his  early  years  as  a  shepherd  boy.  At  the  age  of  sixteen, 
his  father  sent  him,  with  no  proper  preparation,  to  commence  the 
study  of  Greek  in  Edinburgh  University,  but  was  able  to  pay 
his  expenses  there  only  the  first  session  of  one  year.  In  his  per 
plexity,  Robert  was  about  to  enter  the  King's  service,  either  in 
the  army  or  navy ;  but,  going  back  to  Edinburgh,  in  1794,  to  see 
if  it  were  possible  in  any  way  to  proceed  with  his  education,  he 
thus  afterwards  described  his  success: 

"What  was  I  to  do,  or  how  was  I  to  be  supported,  I  knew  not.  But 
having  with  great  diffidence  introduced  myself  to  Professor  Finlayson,  at 
the  close  of  one  of  his  introductory  lectures,  to  ascertain  from  him  the 
lowest  terms  on  which  he  would  permit  me  to  attend  his  instructions,  he, 
with  great  frankness,  without  enquiring  who  I  was  or  whence  I  came, 
immediately  replied,  that  if  I  were  a  young  man  worth  attending  to,  he 
would  not  only  admit  me  to  his  course  without  charge,  but  also  secure  me 
the  same  privilege  from  the  other  professors,  during  the  four  years'  course. 
And  he  did  so.  The  college  sessions  were  only  five  months  in  the  year, 
and  I  taught  school  during  the  Summer  months ;  and  as  an  acknowledge 
ment  to  the  Father  of  mercies,  for  his  kindness  through  the  professors  in 
Edinburgh,  I  admitted  into  my  little  college  always  one,  and  sometimes 
two  scholars  without  charge". 

In  after  years  Dr.  Bishop  wrote: 

"I  commenced  the  study  of  political  and  moral  science  forty  years 
ago,  under  two  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  their  day.  Professors 
Finlayson  and  Dugald  Stuart.  The  former  of  these  is  scarcely  known  ex 
cept  by  his  pupils ;  yet  as  an  accurate  thinker,  and  an  attentive  observer 
of  human  nature,  and  as  to  his  exciting  the  minds  of  his  students  to 
proper  exertions,  he  was  in  no  way  inferior  to  his  celebrated  fellow- 
laborer  who  delivered  his  lectures  to  an  enraptured  audience  in  an 
adjoining  room". 

While  Dr.  Bishop  acknowledged  always,  and  seriously  felt, 
all  through  his  life,  the  want  of  a  thorough  preparatory  or  gram 
mar  education,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  took  from  these  great  in 
structors,  in  a  high  degree,  not  only  the  zeal  for,  but  also  the  gift 
to  impart  knowledge.  In  the  "faculty  for  teaching,"  no  man  of  my 
acquaintance  ever  equaled  the  late  William  Smith,  Principal  of  the 
Dayton  High  School.  Among  other  things  he  had  a  peculiar 
gift,  by  questions  alone,  of  inducing  a  pupil  to  first  discover 
and  then  correct  his  own  mistakes.  This  avoids  correction  and 
statement  by  the  teacher,  which  does  not,  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Bishop,  "excite  the  pupil's  mind."  This  faculty,  William  Smith 
learned  from  Prof.  R.  H.  Bishop,  who  got  it  from  his  father. 
Although  here  unable  to  demonstrate  this  claim,  I  always  be 
lieved  the  method  came  from  Dr.  Adam  Smith  of  the  Edinburgh 
High  School :  if  so, 

"How  far  that  little  candle  threw  its  beams". 

When  twenty-two,  young  Bishop  entered  the  Theological 
Hall  or  School  of  the  Burgher  Synod  at  Selkirk,  on  the  Ettrick 

30 


River.  In  1801,  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  *  of  New  York  City, 
visited  the  Burgher  Synods  of  Scotland,  to  obtain  a  supply  of 
preachers  for  the  American  Burgher  or  Associate  Reformed 
Churches :  and  there  addressed  the  students  at  Selkirk.  From  his 
lips,  and  with  the  liveliest  interest,  young  Bishop  heard  of  the 
needs  and  opportunities  of  the  Western  World.  More  than  fifty 
years  later,  in  some  reminiscences.  Dr.  Bishop  wrote :  "Some  two 
or  three  weeks  afterwards,  on  returning  home  from  the  Theologic 
al  class,  I  stopped  over  one  night  at  Edinburgh  and  late  in  the 
evening,  I  and  another  student  met  Dr.  Mason  at  the  crossing  of 
two  streets.  Had  either  of  us  been  two  or  three  minutes  earlier  or 
later  at  the  spot,  the  meeting  could  not  have  taken  place.  He 
invited  us  to  his  lodgings,  and  we  passed  an  hour  or  two  with 
him  in  conversation.  From  that  accidental  interview  originated 
an  engagement  on  my  part  to  go  to  America." 

Mr.  Bishop  was  married  to  Ann  Ireland,  at  Bucklaven,  on 
the  Firth  of  Forth,  and  embarking  immediately  in  company 
with  Dr.  Mason  and  five  ordained  ministers,  he  landed  in  New 
York  in  October,  1802.  It  was  proposed  he  should  remain  in 
that  city,  but  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  presiding  officer  in  Pres 
bytery,  he  was  sent  to  Kentucky.  For  the  next  five  years, 
he  "itinerated  as  a  missionary"  in  the  Miami  Valley,  and 
also  in  portions  of  Kentucky.  In  1804,  he  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Logic  and  Moral  Philosophy  and  afterward  filled  the 
chair  of  Nautral  Philosophy,  and  then  of  History  in  Transylvania 
University,  at  Lexington;  and  so  continued  for  the  next  twenty 
years,  and  until  his  resignation  and  removal  from  the  State. 

That  Dr.  Bishop  was  the  best  instructor  Transylvania  ever 
had,  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt;  nor  that  his  character  made 
a  lasting  impression  for  good  upon  the  better  class  of  people 
in  that  State.  This  reputation  served  a  good  purpose  in  drawing 
to  Miami,  later  on,  some  of  the  best  students  which  that  institu 
tion  received.  Of  his  earlier  itinerant  days,  Dr.  Bishop  has 
written : 

"No  individual  could  have  been  more  cordially  received  than  I  was 
during  my  eighteen  months  traveling ;  nor  can  any  words  express  the  satis 
faction  which  I  enjoyed  in  nearly  all  my  social  intercourse,  both  public 
and  private.  My  hopes  of  ultimate  success  in  being  instrumental  in  plant 
ing  churches  almost  without  number,  and  on  the  purest  and  most  effi 
cient  models,  were  strong;  and  these  hopes  were  cherished  and  strength 
ened  by  almost  every  circumstance.  Kentucky  and  the  Miami  Valley  ap 
peared  to  me  not  only  the  garden  of  America,  but  the  garden  of 
the  world;  and  were  fixed  upon  in  my  mind,  not  only  to  be  filled  with  a 
dense  population,  but  to  be  the  center  of  influence  to  the  future  States  and 
future  nations  of  the  Mississippi  Valley". 

Yet  in  his  autobiographical  sketch,  we  have  some  singular 
pictures  of  the  State  of  Presbyterianism  in  Kentucky,  in  those 

*  Dr.  Jno.  M.  Mason  did  his  full  share  for  the  abolition  cause  in 
Southern  Ohio.  He  educated  Dr.  Samuel  Crothers ;  and  he  brought  Dr.  R. 
H.  Bishop  to  America. — A.  A.  T. 

40 


pioneer  days.  Dr.  Bishop's  activities  could  not  be  confined  to 
college  work.  Each  week,  and  on  Sundays,  he  preached  to 
different  churches.  These  were  rent  with  divisions  and  conten 
tions  about  the  merest  trifles.  For  four  years,  he  himself  was, 
as  he  says,  "under  ecclesiastical  process."  These  contentions 
seem  to  have  driven  him  from  the  Associate  Reformed  into  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  With  the  former,  "The  Sabbath  when 
they  had  no  preaching  of  their  own,  was  a  mere  day  of  idleness, 
as  it  was  a  settled  point  that  they  could  neither  themselves 
attend  worship,  nor  allow  their  families  to  attend  with  any  who 
did  not  use  the  old  version  of  the  Psalms.  The  greater  part  of 
their  conversation  on  religious  subjects,  whether  on  the  Sabbath 
or  on  other  days,  was  the  errors  and  extravagance  of  other  de 
nominations."  "Almost  every  congregation  was  in  a  state  of 
organized  opposition  to  some  neighboring  Presbyterian  congre 
gation  with  which  it  had  formerly  been  connected."  To  help  in 
contentions  at  Presbytery,  "Elders,  properly  instructed,  were 
sometimes  brought  from  Tennessee  and  other  extremities." 

During  these  years  he  had  full  opportunity  to  see  and  learn 
and  know  what  the  system  of  American  slavery  meant.  In  those 
days,  however,  the  bitterness  of  the  system  had  not  yet  come 
to  master  or  slave.  The  vast  plantation  states  of  the  southwest 
had  not  then  been  settled;  and  in  the  drain  to  fill  and  refill 
them,  the  cruel  separations  of  colored  families  that  were  to 
come,  were  a  thing  not  realized,  although  impending.  Dr. 
Bishop,  on  one  occasion,  records  his  horror  at  giving  the  com 
munion,  among  others  to  a  woman  who  was  to  be  sold  at  auc 
tion  next  day  by  another  communicant.  He  often  preached  and 
labored  among  poor  slaves,  and  was  constant  in  his  efforts  to 
give  them  some  education  and  religious  instruction.  He  states 
that  he  "organized  the  first  Sabbath-schools  which  were  opened 
in  Lexington  for  that  portion  of  our  fellow  mortals."  Dr.  H. 
S.  Fullerton,  in  his  printed  review  of  the  Assembly's  action  on 
Slavery,  in  1845,  states  that  "Dr.  Bishop  was  more  than  once- 
returned  to  the  Grand  Jury,  for  opening  a  Sabbath-school  for 
slaves  in  Lexington." 

Probably  no  man  in  the  West  was  so  well  fitted  to  be  Pres 
ident  of  Miami  University  as  was  Dr.  Bishop  when  called  to  the 
work,  in  1824.  The  difficulties  to  be  overcome  had  been  his  lot 
for  twenty-five  years.  With  the  people  from  whom  its  students 
must  come,  he  had  a  wide  and  personal  acquaintance.  In  the 
next  twenty  years,  and  until  about  1845,  the  good  he  did,  and  the 
impression  he  made  upon  young  men  in  the  West,  can,  in  results, 
never  be  effaced.  Sprague,  in  "Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit,"  says  that  "in  educational  work  in  the  WTest,  Dr.  R.  H. 
Bishop  was  the  strongest  individual  influence  of  his  genera 
tion."  He  was  followed,  not  immediately,  but  soon,  by  men 
who  were  equally  devoted,  and  of  better  scholarship,  but  they 

41 


did  not  "excite"  and  impress  the  minds  of  their  pupils  as  he  did, 
and  as  they  need  to  be  excited  and  impressed  to  get  the  results 
he  strove  for.  I  think  no  one  has  claimed  that  Miami  Univer 
sity  ever  had  a  President  equal  to  him.  General  Birney,  in  his 
"Life  and  Times  of  James  G.  Birney,"  says,  "Dr  Bishop's  char 
acter  and  influence  are  a  tradition  in  many  families."  I  have 
tried  to  get  at  the  secret  of  this  influence,  and  am  by  no  means 
certain  that  I  understand  it.  His  own  mother  and  Dr.  Bishop 
were  the  two  influences,  not  conflicting,  but  much  alike,  which 
formed  my  father's  character.  For  Dr.  Bishop  he  had  a  mingled 
feeling  of  affection,  respect  and  gratitude,  which  these  letters 
but  inadequately  describe.  In  one  of  my  father's  letters,  he 
states  that  he  left  Oxford  with  no  creditable  amount  of  scholarly 
acquisition;  yet  he  went  thence  with  something  gained  there 
which  is  harder  to  impart  than  scholarship.  Carlyle  criticised 
the  genius  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  because  it  contained  "too  little 
of  the  sacred  fire  that  will  burn  up  the  sins  of  the  world."  E^ery 
year  there  went  forth  from  the  tutelage  of  Dr.  Bishop  a  little 
band  of  young  men  aflame  with  that  sacred  fire :  no  temptations, 
no  discouragements,  no  opposition,  no  poverty,  no  time,  no  fate 
could  quench  it:  it  illuminates  the  pages  of  this  Correspondence, 
— otherwise  they  cannot  be  read ! 

Regarding  the  pupils  of  Dr.  Bishop,  it  must  be  remembered 
too,  that  they  came  to  him,  almost  with  no  exception,  without 
that  proper  and  necessary  preparation  and  fitting  for  the  work 
he  was  expected  to  do.  Every  teacher  knows  what  is  involved 
in  taking  pupils  without,  or  with  uneven  preparation,  and  trying 
to  get  creditable  and  uniform  results  from  them  when  taught 
as  a  whole.  Dr.  Bishop  did  not  get  uniform  results.  The  won 
der  has  been  the  number  of  students  that  have  reached  creditable 
position,  or  done  important  work,  who  were  in  some  part,  under 
his  instruction.  The  present  President  of  the  United  States 
wrote  to  him: 

Mouth  Miami,  August  28,  1850. 
Dr.  R.  H.  Bishop, 

Having  for  some  years  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  your  instruction,  and 
being  now  about  to  pass  from  under  your  care,  it  would  be  truly  un 
grateful  were  I  not  to  return  my  warmest  thanks  for  the  lively  interest 
you  have  ever  manifested  in  my  welfare  and  advancement,  in  religious 
as  well  as  scientific  knowledge.  The  advancement  which  I  have  made  but 
serves  to  show  how  much  greater  it  might  have  been  with  proper  diligence 
and  study.  Though  I  shall  no  more  take  my  accustomed  seat  in  your 
class-room,  I  would  not  this  separation  should  destroy  whatever  interest 
you  may  have  felt  in  my  welfare.  Whenever  you  may  see  anything  in 
my  course  which  you  deem  reprehensible,  be  assured  that  any  advice  which 
may  suggest  itself  under  whatever  circumstances  or  on  whatever  subject, 
can  never  meet  with  other  than  a  hearty  welcome. 

Yours  sincerely. 

Benjamin  Harrison. 

42 


To  discover  bright  and  ambitions  boys  in  obscurity  and  pov 
erty,*  to  give  them  such  help  and  encouragement  that 
by  frugality,  they  could  support  themselves;  to  gather  them 
together  and  teach  them  personally  for  years;  to  imbue  them 
with  his  own  principles  and  doctrines,  and  to  send  them  out  to 
contend  for  these;  and  then  watch  and  guide  them  as  they 
made  a  way  in  the  world, — that  surely  would  be  exquisite  pleas 
ure  to  any  educated  man.  Just  this  was  the  delight,  the  occu 
pation  and  pride  of  Dr.  Bishop  for  fifty  years.  Who  doubts 
that  he  had  his  reward? 

He  is  remembered  as  always  full  of  praise  for  what  was 
worthy  of  praise  in  men  and  things  about  him.  It  was  his 
custom  to  deliver  and  publish  many  obituary  addresses,  not  elab 
orate  or  great,  but  more  notable  than  his  audiences  in  that  day 
(or  since)  were  accustomed  to  hear,  which  made  a  lasting  im 
pression  on  surviving  friends.  He  loved  biography  not  only  of 
the  great,  but  as  well  of  those  who  were  worthy  and  unknown. 
He  delivered  such  an  address  in  the  college  chapel  at  Oxford, 
on  the  death  of  Rev.  Thomas  Thomas,  as  my  father  never  forgot. 
Of  Thomas  Thomas  he  said,  among  other  things,  that  "he  had  a 
large  library  and  a  mind  of  the  first  order."  Dr.  Bishop  had 
an  odd  way  of  putting  things  together.  In  an  old  MS.  I  once 
saw,  he  said  of  his  own  father,  "At  10 : 20  a.  m.,  my  father 
returned  from  the  harvest  field  with  a  pain  in  his  bowels,  and 
at  11 : 30  he  died  with  glory  on  his  lips  and  glory  on  every 
feature  of  his  countenance." 

In  1833,  Dr.  Bishop  preached  in  Cincinnati  and  published 
a  sermon  entitled  "A  Plea  for  United  Christian  Action,  ad 
dressed  particularly  to  Presbyterians ;"  and  as  showing  his  style, 
a  few  sentences  from  this  address  may  be  well  quoted  here: 

The  term  Presbyterianism  is  like  all  other  isms  in  theology — it  may 
be  very  well  understood  for  all  practical  purposes,  and  yet  when  used  in 
controversy,  may  be  very  vague  and  equivocal  and  ambiguous.  Dr.  Rogers 
of  New  York,  who  Is  acknowledged  on  all  hands  to  have  been  one  of  the 
fathers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  North  America,  is  said  to  have 
said,  "That  he  always  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  make  a  Scotchman 
understand  what  American  Presbyterianism  was." 

"American    Presbyterianism    is    like    our    common    Christianity.      Its 


*  I  append  and  quote  from  my  address  in  1894,  at  the  Steele  High 
School  in  Dayton. 

"In  vacation  times,  the  custom  of  Dr.  Bishop  was  to  take  long  horse 
back  rides,  without  destination,  stopping  wherever  people  were  gathered 
together.  He  knew  what  he  was  searching  for.  One  night — it  was 
in  1829, —  in  an  attic  bedroom  of  a  farm  house  on  the  banks  of  the  Miami 
River,  near  Jersey  Church,  opposite  Franklin,  in  Warren  County,  he  found 
my  father,  then  an  unknown  boy  seventeen  years  old,  eager  to  learn  but 
unable  to  proceed.  I  have  my  father's  letter  describing  that  interview. 
'My  head,'  he  writes,  'spun  like  a  top  when  Dr.  Bishop  at  last  said.  'Come, 
and  I  will  engage  in  some  way  to  find  means  to  enable  you  to  stay.' " 

43 


great  and  leading  features  are  few,  simple,  and  very  easily  understood; 
but  the  modifications  and  applications  of  these  leading  features  are  re 
markably  diversified.  These  leading  features  are,  equality  of  rank  among 
all  her  leading  elders;  a  regular  gradation  of  church  courts;  and  an 
adherence  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  with 
the  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  as  being  the  system  of  doctrines  con 
tained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  To  these  may 
be  added,  practically,  though  not  theoretically,  maintaining  the  necessity 
of  a  learned  ministry.  Wherever  I  find  these  features  substantially  main 
tained,  I  find  a  Presbyterian,  and  a  Presbyterian  just  such  as  John  Knox 
was,  and  as  the  great  body  of  the  Presbyterians  in  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  have  always  been  since  the  Reformation." 

It  was  the  peculiar  happiness  of  the  Tennents,  and  the  Blairs,  and 
of  Davies,  and  of  Rogers,  and  Witherspoon,  and  of  the  other  fathers  of 
the  General  Assembly  Presbyterians  in  North  America,  that  they  under 
stood  well  the  great  and  leading,  the  essential  features  of  genuine  Pres- 
byterianism ;  and  that  they  could  divest  these  essential  features  of  locali 
ties,  and  adapt  the  system  to  the  state  of  society .  which  was  forming  in  these 
now  United  States.  The  great  evil  under  which  all  the  other  branches  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  have  labored,  and  under  which  they 
still  labor,  is  an  attempt  to  introduce  into  the  American  soil,  and  into  an 
American  state  of  society,  the  peculiarities  of  distant  countries,  and  of 
remote  and  distant  ages.  And  yet  these  peculiarities  are  no  more  essen 
tial  to  Presbyterianism  than  they  are  to  Christianity  itself." 

Probably  Dr.  Bishop's  position  and  influence  at  Oxford  were 
never  so  assured  and  commanding  as  about  the  time  of  my 
father's  graduation,  in  1834;  and  to  the  graduates  of  those  days, 
there  then  appeared  in  the  institution,  a  glow  of  ambition,  of 
industry  and  of  devotion  not  so  noticeable  in  former  or  after  days. 
The  first  disturbing  element  was  the  disruption  of  the  Presbyte 
rian  Church  in  1837.  Against  this,  Dr.  Bishop  set  himself  with 
all  his  power,  and  it  seemed  at  one  time  that  he  must  leave  the 
church  from  his  refusal  to  recognize  or  adhere  to  either  faction. 
Later  on,  the  stand  he  took,  and  indeed  some  phases  of  his 
character,  are  well  disclosed  by  the  following  communication 
which  we  find  in  Dr.  Bishop's  hand  writing,  among  my  father's 
papers : 

To  the  Moderator  of  the  Presbytery  of  Oxford, 

to  meet  at  Venice  on  the        day  of  March,  1845, 
or  when  and  wheresoever  said  Presbytery 

may  meet: 
Dear  brother: 

A  variety  of  circumstances  over  which  I  have  had  no  control,  has  led 
me  to  believe  that  it  is  now  a  duty  which  I  owe  to  you  and  to  myself  and 
to  many  others,  to  request  of  you.  as  I  hereby  do,  that  you  will  be  pleased 
to  give  me  a  regular  dismission  from  your  venerable  body,  and  if  consis 
tent  with  your  principles  and  feelings,  give  me  a  recommendation  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Cincinnati  (New  School)  as  in  good  Christian  and  minis 
terial  standing.  I  make  this  application : 

I.  Not  from  any  change  in  my  opinions   as  to   any  principles  con 
tained   in  the  Westminster  Confession,   or   in   the  Catechism,   Larger  or 
Shorter,  or  in  the  form  of  Presbyterial  Government  as  expressed  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  these  United  States. 

II.  Nor  have  I  any  dissatisfaction  with  any  of  the  modes  of  ecclesias 
tical    operation,   through    the   Education,    or   Publishing,    or   Domestic  or 

44 


Foreign  Missionary  Boards  of  the  Assembly.  On  the  contrary,  I  sincerely 
and  truly  desire  that  every  minister  and  elder  and  every  member  in  the 
Connection  would  duly  appreciate  all  the  arrangements  connected  with 
these  Boards,  and  act  in  all  cases  with  Christian  vigor  and  faithfulness 
in  carrying  out  these  objects. 

III.  Much  less  have  I  any  dissatisfaction,  either  personal  or  official, 
with  any  of  the  members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Oxford.  I  only  lament  that 
I  have  done  so  little  in  the  great  and  good  work  in  which  they  are 
engaged.  I  cheerfully  recognize  them  as  beloved  and  faithful  brethren 
in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  heartily  sympathize  with  them  in  all  their 
labors  and  difficulties  and  sorrows ;  and  hope  that  each  of  them  will  in 
due  time  know  fully  the  import  of  the  declaration :  "He  that  goeth  forth 
and  weepeth,  bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless  come  again  with 
rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him". 

My  reasons  for  the  present  application,  if  I  know  myself,  are  simply 
and  only  these: 

I.  It  is  well  known  to  all  the  brethren,  that  I  have  always  con 
sidered  the  division  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  took  place  in 
1837,  as  not  only  unnecessary,  but  sinful. 

II.  It  is  equally  well  known  that  that  division  has  never  affected  me 
personally ;  and  that  I  have  ever  since,  and  up  to  this  very  hour,  enjoyed 
the  Christian  and  ministerial  and  ecclesiastical  communion  of  the  brethren 
and  churches  and  courts  of  each  division,  as  fully  and  freely  and  com 
fortably  as  ever  I  did  before  the  division  took  place. 

III.  My  time  of  sojourning  and  service  here,  cannot  in  the  nature  of 
things  be  much  longer.  I  must  work  while  it  is  day.  I  have  a  strong 
desire,  therefore,  in  this  way,  to  give  my  public  and  likely  my  dying 
testimony  to  my  honest  belief  and  experience  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  these  United  States,  though  ecclesiastically  in  two  general  divisions,  is 
in  fact  still  only  ONE  body,  and  one  of  the  departments  of  the  Army  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

I  wish  to  follow  our  departed  brother  Craig  (whose  funeral  I  at 
tended  on  the  last  Sabbath  of  June  last)  into  the  General  Assembly  and 
Church  of  the  First  Born,  hand-in-hand  with  brother  Beecher;  and  I 
hope  that  brother  Wilson  will,  (only  a  few  steps  behind  or  before), 
hand-in-hand  with  some  other  brother  of  the  New  School  Connection,  take 
his  place  in  the  same  happy  company. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted, 

R.  H.  Bishop. 

While  it  was  true  that  the  division  in  the  church  "never 
affected  Dr.  Bishop  personally,"  his  serious  and  unremitting 
opposition  to  it  did  affect  his  hold  on  the  community, — such  was 
the  bitterness  of  the  times, — over  a  question  so  trifling  that  we 
have  difficulty  in  getting  any  intelligent  Presbyterian  of  to-day 
to  plainly  say  or  admit  what  the  difference  or  cause  of  sepa 
ration  was.  Still,  all  this  could  not  have  affected  the  hold  of 
Dr.  Bishop  at  Oxford,  had  there  not  been  added  his  zeal  and 
activity  in  the  Anti-Slavery  cause,  into  which  he  cast  his  whole 
weight.  His  determination  was  to  compel  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  take  Anti-Slavery  ground,  and  so  assist  in  arresting 
the  onward  progress  of  slavery,  and  ultimately  remove  the  curse 
from  American  soil.  This  volume  shows  some  touches  of  cer 
tain  lines  of  his  activity;  although  little  remains  in  print,  from 
his  pen,  on  the  subject.  The  letters  here  published  show  the  con 
tinuation  of  this  contest,  set  on  foot  by  Dr.  Bishop;  modified 

45 


later  on  by  Dr.  MacMaster,  and  so  fought  out  by  him,  and  by 
Dr.  Thomas,  as  this  record  discloses.  In  this  contest,  Dr.  Rob 
ert  H.  Bishop  was  the  first  to  fall ;  and  his  removal  from  the 
presidency  of  Miami  University  was  the  first  and  costliest  sacri 
fice  demanded  and  obtained  by  the  pro-slavery  element  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Northwest.*  This  occurred  in  1840 : 
Dr.  Bishop  was  deposed  into  a  professorship,  where  he  remained 
until  1845,  when,  for  the  sole  reasons  above  stated,  he  and  Prof. 
Scott, — the  most  accomplished  professor  Miami  ever  had,  and  an 
early  and  efficient  abolitionist, — were  both  removed  under  the 
avowed  pretext  of  "harmonizing  the  views  of  all  parties/' 

The  successor  of  Dr.  Bishop  was  chosen  and  named  by  that 
same  Princeton  influence  which  dominated  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  interest  of  slavery,  for  a  generation,  and  until 
the  beginning  of  the  war  of  1861.  He  appeared  in  Dr.  Junkin,  a 
robust  champion  of  the  biblical  sanction  of  human  slavery,  and 
who  had  been  of  all  men  in  the  East,  most  prominent  in  bring 
ing  about  the  Presbyterian  disruption  into  its  Old  and  New 
School  divisions. 

In  their  action  of  1840,  the  Trustees  of  Miami  University 
were  sore  pressed  for  avowable  reason  for  their  action ;  and  they 
found  it  in  the  formal  charge  that  the  president  had  been  derelict 
in  duty  in  not  rigidly  collecting  tuition  fees  from  indigent  students. 
Recollection  of  the  day  had  never  been  absent  from  the  mind  of 
Dr.  Bishop,  when,  a  penniless  and  awkward  country  boy,  he 
had  hung  around  the  professor's  room  in  Edinburgh  University 
to  ascertain  "the  lowest  terms"  on  which  he  might  taste  the 
sweets  of  learning;  nor  of  the  immeasurable  blessings  to  himself 
and  others  which  the  grace  then  accorded  him  had  brought.  To 
the  above  charge  he  pleaded  guilty,  and  filed  a  defense  from 
the  MS.  of  which  I  quote: 

"I  freely  admit  that  there  were  cases  where  a  more  rigid  enforce 
ment  of  the  regulation  would  have  .secured  some  payments  which  have 
been  lost.  These  cases  were,  however,  few,  when  compared  with  those 
of  another  nature.  Had  the  regulation  in  every  case  been  rigidly  en 
forced,  a  far  larger  number  from  whom  there  was  ultimately  no  loss, 
would  never  have  entered,  or  would  not  have  been  continued.  One-half 
of  the  graduates  of  1840,  who  have  since  liquidated  all  their  debts,  would 
have  been  forced  to  go  home;  some  of  them  in  their  Junior  year,  and 
others  at  the  commencement  of  their  Senior  year;  had  advance-payments 
been  essentially  necessary  to  their  continuance  as  students.  Besides,  no 
public,  literary  institution  can  ever  ultimately  suffer  from  being  indulgent 

*  On  the  question  of  the  removal  of  Dr.  Bishop,  among  those  voting 
aye,  was  P.  P.  Lowe,  of  Dayton ;  but  twenty  years  later  he  gave  housing 
and  hospitality  to  Dr.  MacMaster  when  he  was  outcast  and  had  the  Phil 
istines  upon  him  in  this  same  cause ;  for  this  Sit  tibi  terra  levis. — A.  A.  T. 

46 


in  this  respect,  to  otherwise  promising  young  men.  I  add  to  all,  that  my 
personal  responsibilities,  and  the  personal  responsibilities  of  one  or  two 
who  acted  with  me,  in  behalf  of  those  who  would  otherwise  have  left  the 
institution  during  1839-1840,  were  upwards  of  $2000.  The  details  in  con 
nection  with  this  class  of  facts  can  be  given  at  any  time,  to  any  of  the 
genuine  friends  of  Miami  University." 

The  removal  of  Drs.  Bishop  and  Scott  did  an  injury  to 
Miami  University  greater  than  could  be  at  the  time  realized,  and 
which  has  never  been  overcome.  Dissensions  and  dissatisfaction 
that  ensued  withdrew  interest  in  its  welfare  and  a  support  on 
which  that  welfare  depended.  The  old  reputation  of  the  institu 
tion  long  survived  its  character  and  its  deserts.  But  lately  a 
new  president  and  new  faculty  took  possession,  deserving  in 
all  respects  of  students  who  did  not  come. 

Of  all  Dr.  Bishop's  children,  perhaps  the  most  able  and 
scholarly  was  George,  his  companion  and  eldest  son.  In  him, 
his  father  saw  with  unconcealed  delight  a  promise  of  all  he 
thought  a  young  man  ought  to  be,  when  this  son  became  profes 
sor  of  Biblical  Literature  in  the  Seminary  then  attached  to 
Hanover  College.  His  sudden  death  there,  in  1837,  broke  the 
old  man's  heart.  No  cry,  no  complaint  escaped  his  lips  when 
this  loss  was  mentioned,  only  loud  and  redundant  praises  of  the 
mercy  and  goodness  of  God.  But  from  this  time  on,  his  pupils 
and  acquaintances  noticed  that  a  certain  rough  jocundity  which 
had  been  his  habit,  was  gone;  and  into  his  public  addresses 
there  came  more  and  more  those  quaint  and  exquisite  descrip 
tions  of  a  life  in  the  world  to  come.  Indeed,  Dr.  Bishop  always 
taught  his  pupils  to  live  as  if  on  a  campaign  and  away  from 
home,  whence  a  recall  and  tidings  might  be  looked  for  at  any 
hour. 

Through  the  agency  chiefly  of  General  Samuel  F.  Gary  and 
of  his  brother,  the  late  Freman  G.  Cary,  Esq.,  Dr.  Bishop  became 
president  of  Farmer's  College  at  College  Hill,  near  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  The  number  of  students  here  in  attendance  was  large  but 
of  miscellaneous  preparation  and  grade,  yet  upon  many  of  them 
the  President  made  an  impress  never  forgotten.  Here  the 
alumni  of  Miami  built  him  a  home  that  sheltered  his  old  age. 
He  died  in  1855.  "I  give,"  he  said  in  a  characteristic  will,  "I 
give  my  soul  to  the  Redeemer,  as  I  have  often  endeavored  to  do, 
to  be  received  on  the  same  condition  that  the  thief  on  the  cross 
was  received.  I  give  my  body  to  the  Directors  of  Farmer's 
College  to  be  enclosed  in  a  metallic-lined  box,  and  to  be  placed 
in  a  mound  to  be  formed  of  successive  layers  of  sand  and  earth, 
which  shall  have  no  artificial  monument,  but  only  an  evergreen 
tree  thereon."  The  other  day,  the  Presbytery  in  session  at 
College  Hill,  went  out  and  held  services  around  the  grave  of 
Dr.  Bishop.  His  pupils  are  widely  scattered  and  his  memory 

47 


must  remain  "only  a  tradition  in  many  families."  But  there  are 
many  living,  and  long  will  be,  who  remember  with  reverence 
that  little  mound  at  College  Hill;  and  the  sons  of  Dr.  Thomas 
want  to  place  a  wreath  upon  it. — A.  A.  T. 

SUPPLEMENTARY  NOTE. 

Dr.  Bishop:  his  faults;  graces;  singular  power  in  public  ad 
dresses  at  times.  J.  G  obeli  Breckenridge's  funeral.  Warm 
Kentucky  friendship  for  Bishop. 

NOTE.  Like  Lincoln,  Dr.  Bishop  suffered  for  his  unconven- 
tionality:  he  was  homespun,  and  was  born,  and  died  a  Scotch 
peasant.  Over  some  faults,  old  age  throws  her  mantle  of  charity 
and  grace. 

Yet  he  was  habitually  courtly.  He  could  go  up  to  a  lady  in 
a  large  company  of  cultivated  people,  and  speak  to  her  in  a  way 
that  would  make  her  feel  distinguished  the  rest  of  the  day,  and 
yet  she  could  not  remember  that  he  had  said  anything,  and  in 
fact  he  had  not. 

You  rightly  say  he  had  a  hot  temper  and  was  capable  of  a 
mighty  wrath.  Thoughtless  persons  at  times  suddenly  found  this 
out.  My  mother  who  died  last  year,  aged  eighty-seven,  was 
brought  to  Hamilton  as  a  bride,  in  1840.  She  was  full  of  stories 
about  Dr.  Bishop  which  she  would  tell  when  the  spirit  moved 
her.  She  told  me  this. 

Once,  in  chapel  service,  a  boy  was  playing  comic  pranks. 
The  students  said  President  Bishop  "prayed  with  one  eye  open" 
and  caught  him  flagrante  delictu.  Without  stopping  in  his  pray 
er,  he  leaped  upon  the  culprit's  shoulders  and  bore  him  to  the 
floor.  . 

No  printed  report  gave  adequate  expression  of  the  singular 
effect  of  the  Doctor's  addresses  upon  these  Western  audiences. 
Men  and  women  would  go  away  from  his  meetings  roused  and 
excited,  unable  to  tell  why  they  felt  so.  Of  course,  one  secret  of 
this  power  was  moral  earnestness;  Carlisle  sometimes  had  this. 
Froude  who  reported  his  "Inaugural  as  Rector  of  the  University 
of  Edinburg"  wrote,  "At  times  the  assemblage  seemed  moved 
as  by  subterranean  fires." 

Once  in  trying  to  express  the  regret  that  I  had  not  helped 
my  father,  I  quoted  Carlisle's  words  in  like  case : 

"Through  life  I  had  given  my  father  very  little,  having  little 
to  give;  he  needed  little,  and  from  me  expected  nothing.  Thou 
who  wouldst  give,  give  quickly ;  in  the  grave  thy  loved  one  can  re 
ceive  no  kindness." 

A  friend  said,  on  reading  these  lines,  he  seized  his  check 
book ;  went  straight  to  a  country  home ;  took  his  parents  to  Cin 
cinnati,  and  sent  them  back  with  comfortable,  costly  furniture, 
they  protesting. 

48 


Dr.  Bishop  was  never  disappointing  on  important  occasions; 
and  perhaps  he  influenced  educated  people  most  of  all. 

John  Cabell  Breckenridge,  in  1823,  was  the  most  promising 
of  his  father's  sons,  and  a  founder  and  an  elder  of  the  Presbyter 
ian  church  in  Lexington,  where  Prof.  Bishop  ministered.  Grad 
uated  at  Princeton  in  1810,  he  had  married  the  daughter  of  Pres 
ident  Sam'l  Stanhope  Smith  of  that  college ;  and  Rev.  Dr.  Jno.  C. 
Young,  later  of  Center  College  and  of  the  Seminary  at  Danville, 
was  to  marry  his  daughter.  When  quite  young,  and  Secretary 
of  State  at  Frankfort,  Cabell  Breckenridge  died,  and  his  body  was 
brought  to  Lexington  for  burial.  Into  this  crowded  church  at  his 
funeral  was  gathered  the  elite  of  Kentucky;  and  through  them 
slowly  moved  to  the  pulpit  front,  all  the  Breckenridge  connection, 
preceded  by  the  coffin  and  the  widow.  She  led  by  the  hand  her 
boy,  John  C.,  afterwards  to  become  candidate  against  Douglas 
and  against  Lincoln  and  General  in  the  Confederate  Army. 

Prof.  Bishop  preached  the  funeral  sermon.  What  he  said, 
some  one  of  the  family  tried  to  preserve  by  this  blurred  pamphlet 
of  three  pages.  These  are  the  opening  paragraphs : 

"As  for  man.  his  days  are  as  grass,  as  the  flower  of  the  field  so  he 
flourisheth ;  for  the  wind  passeth  over  it,  and  it  is  gone,  and  the  place 
thereof  shall  know  it  no  more.  But  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from  ever 
lasting  to  everlasting  upon  them  that  fear  him,  and  his  righteousness 
unto  children's  children." 

"The  grave  and  eternity  are  not  gloomy  things ;  nor  shall  we 
either  be  forgotten  or  cease  from  enjoyment,  when  our  place 
shall  not  be  known  on  earth.  We  are  immortal  as  well  as  mortal 
beings,  and  the  very  principles  in  our  nature  by  which  we  are 
connected  with  one  another  and  endeared  to  one  another  here, 
are  used  to  connect  us  with  Eternity,  and  with  the  Father  of 
Eternity,  and  with  one  another  as  His  children. 

Our  departed  friend  was  everything  which  a  friend,  and  a 
husband,  and  a  father,  and  a  son  could  be.  That  such  a  man  was 
bestowed  upon  us  and  continued  with  us  while  he  was, — this  was 
no  common  mercy.  He  was  taken  from  us  suddenly,  in  the  prime 
and  vigor  of  life.  Let  our  loins  be  girded  and  our  lamps  be  burn 
ing,  for  at  such  an  hour  as  we  think  not  our  hour  may  come." 

Jefferson  Davis  two  years  in  Dr.  Bishop's  class  at  Transylvania. 
His  tribute  to  Bishop  as  an  instructor.  Did  he  lack  disci 
pline  f  Story  about  Dr.  Thomas'  difficulties  in  "discipline" 
at  Hanover  College. 

At  Transylvania  in  Prof.  Bishop's  class  for  two  years,  1821-3, 
was  a  handsome,  aristocratic  boy,  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi, 
who  in  time  became  "President  of  the  Confederate  States."  In 
his  last  year,  he  began  to  dictate  his  autobiography  published 

49 


with  pride  by  his  wife — "Memoir"  Vol.  1,  page  23.  His  age  and 
wonderful  experience  give  weight  to  this  testimony  as  to  the  qual 
ity  of  his  college  professor.  No  man  in  America  valued  "disci 
pline"  more  than  he,  or  could  quicker  recognize  its  efficiency  or 
abuse.  By  such  a  man  as  Jefferson  Davis,  the  faults  of  Bishop 
and  not  his  merits,  might  have  been  remembered.  This  was  not 
the  case.  I  quote  his  words. 

The  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek,  and  vice-president  of  the  Univer 
sity,  was  a  Scotchman,  Rev.  Mr.  Bishop,  afterward  president  of  a  college 
in  Ohio,  (Kenyon,  I  believe  it  was,)  a  man  of  large  attainments  and  very 
varied  knowledge.  His  lectures  in  history  are  remembered  as  well  for 
wide  information  as  for  their  keen  appreciation  of  the  characteristics  of 
mankind.  His  hero  of  all  the  world  was  William  Wallace.  In  his  lec 
tures  on  the  history  of  the  Bible  his  faith  was  that  of  a  child,  not  doubting 
nor  questioning,  and  believing  literally  as  it  was  written. 

"A  vulgar  boy,  in  the  junior  class,  committed  some  outrage  during  the 
recitation,  which  Dr.  Bishop  chose  to  punish  as  became  the  character  of 
the  offender.  His  inability  to  draw  a  straight  line  on  the  blackboard 
caused  him  to  keep  a  very  large  ruler,  broad  and  flat,  with  which  he  used 
to  guide  the  chalk.  Calling  the  boy  to  him,  he  laid  him  across  his  knee 
and  commenced  paddling  him  with  the  big  ruler.  The  culprit  mumbled 
that  it  was  against  the  law  to  whip  a  collegiate.  'Yes,'  said  the  old  gen 
tleman,  momentarily  stopping  his  exercise,  'but  every  rule  has  its  excep 
tions,  Toney.'  Then  he  whacked  him  again,  and  there  would  not  have  been 
a  dissenting  voice  if  the  question  had  been  put  as  to  the  justice  of  the 
chastisement." 

Bishop's  lack  of  discipline  is  a  fiction,  disseminated  in  the 
biography  of  Junkin,  with  whom  it  was  a  frequent  text  in  his 
first  year.  It  was  better  than  Dr.  Junkin's  or  Dr.  McMaster's, 
without  fault  of  either.  College  discipline  requires  respect,  and 
good  will,  with  a  firm  hand  in  extreme  cases.  In  short,  Dr. 
Bishop  had  better  discipline  than,  any  President  of  Miami,  of  his 
generation. 

When  Thos.  E.  Thomas  was  President  of  Hanover  College,  at 
a  night  wedding,  unendurable  disorder  of  students  took  place 
outside,  and  my  father  pursuing  in  the  dark,  felled  one  with  his 
cane  and  took  him  prisoner.  This  brought  about  incipient  rebel 
lion,  as  they  claimed  it  was  not  "fair." 

In  the  half-hour  before  supper  time,  the  students  as  a  body 
would  wait  at  the  postoffice,  for  the  Madison  stage  which  brought 
the  daily  mail.  Here,  they  were  always  hilarious  and  often  dis 
orderly.  Going  through  them  to  his  mail-box,  then  my  father 
was  insulted  by  a  stalwart  student.  Whipping  off  his  coat,  he 
laid  it  on  the  ground,  saying  loudly,  "Dr.  Thomas,  you  lie  there." 
Then  raising  his  fists,  boxer-like,  he  backed  the  offender  through 
the  crowd  and  beyond,  amid  the  plaudits  of  the  student  body. 
It  was  a  fair  call  on  equal  terms.  That  was  all.  There  was  a 
permanent  change  of  sentiment:  discipline  was  restored,  with 
good  humor. 

50 


My  father  was  forty-one,  quick,  short  or  "stocky,"  and 
stronger  than  any  man  I  ever  knew  of  his  profession  who  had 
done  no  physical  labor.  A.  A.  T.,  May,  1909. 

TO  REV.  E.  D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D. 

About  the  removal  of  Dr.  Bishop  and  Prof.  Scott.  T.  E.  Thomas 
appeals  to  Dr.  MacMaster  to  help  re-instate  them.  Thinks 
prosperity  of  the  college  at  stake. 

Hamilton,  O.,  14  January,  1845. 

Sir: — I  am  personally  unacquainted  with  you,  and  perhaps 
you  have  never  heard  of  me;  but  the  deep  interest  I  feel  in  the 
prosperity  of  that  institution  whose  Presidency  you  have  recent 
ly  accepted,  induces  me  to  address  you. 

Sixteen  years  have  elapsed  since  I  entered  Miami  University 
as  a  student;  and  more  than  ten  since  I  graduated.  For  the 
last  ten  years,  during  part  of  which  I  have  resided  at  Hamilton, 
(about  twelve  miles  from  Oxford),  I  have  been  well  acquainted 
with  all  the  Professors,  and  have  had  the  pleasure  of  a  particu 
lar  intimacy  with  Drs.  Bishop  and  Scott.  Belonging  to  the 
same  Synod  and  Presbytery,  I  have  frequently  at  Oxford,  had 
familiar  intercourse  with  them  in  public,  in  the  pulpit  and 
lecture-room,  and  at  the  fireside.  I  have  occasionally  attended 
at  the  request  of  the  Faculty  and  Trustees,  the  annual  college 
examinations.  I  am  personally  acquainted  with  nearly  all  the 
members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  have  for  years  been  an 
attentive  observer  of  their  proceedings.  I  am  also  acquainted 
with  a  large  majority  of  the  three  hundred  alumni  of  the  Univer 
sity;  and  am  in  constant  correspondence  with  many  of  them 
residing  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  I  make  these 
statements  for  no  other  reason  than  to  assure  you  that  in  what 
I  am  about  to  say,  I  do  not  speak  without  opportunities  of 
knowing  that  whereof  I  affirm. 

You  are  aware  that  the  Trustees  of  Miami  University,  at 
the  last  meeting,  vacated  the  chairs  of  Dr.  Scott  and  Prof. 
Waterman,  and  abolished  the  Professorship  of  Dr.  Bishop.  Prof. 
Waterman  is  a  young  man,  whose  connection  with  the  institution 
is  recent  and  transcient,  and  he  has  therefore  no  such  claim  on 
the  sympathies  of  the  public.  With  the  venerable  Dr.  Bishop 
and  with  Dr.  Scott,  it  is  quite  otherwise.  Of  Dr.  Bishop's 
character  as  a  man,  a  scholar,  a  Christian,  a  teacher  of  youth, 
T  need  say  nothing.  You  are  well  acquainted  with  it.  I  shall 
only  say  that  the  charge  so  industriously  circulated  to  his 
prejudice  that  age  has  incapacitated  him  from  rendering  further 
service  to  that  institution,  is  a  fiction  invented  to  conceal  motives 
which  they  are  too  dishonorable  to  avow.  Dr.  Bishop  came  to 
Ohio  when  it  was  comparatively  a  wilderness.  He  labored  with 

51 


a  few  students  to  build  up  a  University,  and  for  twenty  years 
has  labored  faithfully  and  efficiently.  He  gathered  around  him 
competent  assistants;  and  he  had  won  for  Miami  University  the 
enviable  title  of  the  Yale  of  the  West.  But  he  was  virtually 
cast  out  of  the  Presidency;  and  now,  in  a  venerable  old  age, 
at  the  close  of  a  life  spent  in  diligent  and  disinterested  public 
service,  he  is  turned  out  of  the  Institution  penniless  and  all  but 
homeless.  This  community,  Sir,  and  especially  the  alumni,  can 
not  but  feel  that  the  treatment  which  Dr.  Bishop  has  experienced 
is  dishonorable,  mean  and  injurious  to  the  Institution. 

In  regard  to  Dr.  Scott,  the  recent  action  was  scarcely  less 
offensive.  He  has  been  a  Professor  in  Miami  University  some 
sixteen  or  seventeen  years.  He  performed  the  duties  of  his 
office  unexceptionally  in  the  days  of  her  glory.  His  pupils  fill 
with  acceptance,  similar  stations  in  other  colleges.  He  is  known 
in  the  community  as  an  exemplary  Christian,  an  accomplished 
scholar,  a  kind,  patient,  efficient  instructor;  and  in  private,  as 
an  amiable,  polished  gentleman.  Some  paltry  reasons  are  indeed 
assigned  for  his  removal;  but  the  reasons  are  only  such  as  to 
excite  contempt  and  indignation.  Drs.  Bishop  and  Scott,  two 
old  and  faithful  Professors,  are  thus  dismissed.  Do  you  ask 
why?  I  can  tell  you,  Sir,  in  a  few  words.  Their  deficiency  in 
thorough-going  Old  School  partizanship  and  their  anti-slavery 
principles  are  the  real  grounds  for  their  removal.  *  *  *  * 

My  principal  reason  for  laying  these  facts  before  you  is 
to  say  that,  in  the  judgment  of  all  with  whom  I  have  communi 
cated,  in  what  I  have  no  doubt  is  the  judgment  of  a  majority  of 
the  community,  the  prosperity  of  Miami  requires  that  both  these 
gentlemen  be  re-instated  in  their  Professorships.  And  as  I 
sincerely  desire  its  prosperity  as  much  as  success  to  yourself  in 
presiding  over  the  institution;  as  I  hope  that  great  good  will 
result  therefrom  to  this -valley,  and  to  the  whole  West;  I  most 
respectfully  suggest  to  your  consideration,  that  there  are  no 
means  by  which  these  objects  can  be  so  successfully  promoted; 
nor  any  way  by  which  you  can  so  certainly  secure  the  respect 
and  regard  of  the  alumni,  and  the  good  will  of  the  whole  com 
munity,  as  by  employing  your  influence  at  the  approaching 
meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  their  re-establishment  in 
the  University. 

Should  justice  be  refused  to  these  gentlemen,  the  Board  may 
rest  assured  that  their  friends  will  not  suffer  the  affront  to  pass 
in  silence.  The  public  must  know  the  secret  history  of  the  whole 
affair;  and  the  kind  of  policy  exercised  by  a  particular  party 
in  attempting  to  control  a  state  institution.  And  those  who 
know  the  state  of  public  sentiment  in  this  region  have  little 
reason  to  doubt  that  if  Presbyterians  engage  again  in  contro- 

52 


versies  between  themselves  respecting  that  institution,  their 
dynasty  over  it  is  done  for,  and  the  scepter  will  pass  to  some 
other  denomination. 

I  hope  the  importance  of  the  matter  under  consideration 
will  constitute  a  sufficient  apology  for  my  communication.  T 
have  no  personal  interests  whatever  involved.  I  have  written 
freely  and  honestly  and  confidentially. 

Hoping  to  see  you  hereafter  at  Oxford,  cordially  and  happily 
co-operating  with  Drs.  Bishop  and  Scott,  and  with  the  other 
able  members  of  the  faculty  at  Oxford,  I  remain, 

Most  respectfully  yours,  etc. 

Thomas  E.  Thomas. 

From  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D.  MacMaster 

Rebukes  T.  E.  Thomas.      Tells  him  he  cannot  be  moved  by  threats. 
Tries  to  teach  him  to  use  conciliatory  language. 

Madison,  Ind.,  Jany  18,  1845. 
Rev.  and  dear  Sir: 

Yours  of  the  14th  inst.  at  hand. 

From  the  time  the  information  came  to  me  of  the  appoint 
ment  ,  unsought  by  myself,  which  the  Trustees  of  Miami  Univer 
sity  have  done  me  the  honor  to  make,  the  relations  of  Drs.  Bishop 
and  Scott  to  the  University  became  a  subject  of  deep  interest  to 
me.  The  moment  I  decided  that  it  was  my  duty  to  accept  my 
own  appointment,  I  took  the  liberty  to  communicate  with  Dr. 
Bishop,  and  with  some  of  the  Trustees,  with  a  view  to  bring 
about,  if  possible,  an  arrangement  by  which  he  should  continue 
to  be  connected  with  the  institution.  *  *  *  * 

That  I  did  not  do  the  same  thing  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Scott 
arose  from  no  unfavorable  feeling  toward  him.  *  *  *  * 

I  take  the  liberty  to  say,  that  dispositions  on  all  sides  more 
conciliatory  than  the  language  and  tone  of  some  parts  of  your 
letter,  are  necessary  to  harmony  among  the  various  interests  in 
volved  in  the  university.  Considering  my  relations  to  the  trus 
tees,  it  would  be  better  that  such  language  concerning  them 
should  not  be  addressed  to  me.  *  *  *  * 

In  what  you  say  in  part  there  is  at  least  an  appearance  of 
menace,  of  which  I  presume  you  are  scarcely  aware.  For  I  take 
it,  you  yourself  must  regard  as  utterly  unfit  for  any  public  trust 
any  man  capable  of  being  awed  by  such  means  into  any  course 
which  his  own  sense  of  duty  would  not  prompt. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

E.  D.  MACMASTER. 

53 


Dr.  MacM aster;  sketch  of  his  life.  President  of  Hanover  Col 
lege.  Fine  advice  to  graduating  class,  com/paring  results  of 
study  with  extempore  work.  Was  a  Democrat,  not  an  aboli 
tionist.  His  great  address  at  Miami,  on  resigning  the  presi 
dency  in  18^9.  His  valuable  work  henceforth,  in  maintain 
ing,  reviving,  moderating  and  directing  the  anti-slavery  sen 
timent  in  the  church.  Ablest  answer  to  Dr.  Hodge  of 
Princeton  on  biblical  sanction  of  slavery.  What  the  future 
historian  will  not  fail  to  note.  Death  scene  of  Dr.  MacM. 
at  Chicago.  His  last  message.  Dr.  Thomas'  great  address 
at  his  funeral,  to  a  "few  Presbyterian  folk". 

NOTE.  Rev.  Erasmus  Darwin  MacMaster,  D.  D.,  born  at 
Mercer,  Pa.,  in  1806,  was  one  of  the  six  children  and  the  second 
son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Gilbert  and  Jane  (Brown)  MacMaster.  His 
grandfather,  harassed  by  the  persecutions,  left  a  respectable 
position  in  Scotland  and  at  great  sacrifice  of  property,  settled 
in  the  County  of  Down,  Province  of  Ulster,  in  Ireland,  whence 
his  son,  Gilbert,  emigrated  to  America  in  early  boyhood.  An 
old  family  record  says  his  ancestors  were  men  "not  depending 
for  reputation  on  the  little  vanity  of  having  sprung  from  persons 
distinguished  in  their  day  as  butchers  and  plunderers  of  their 
fellows;  nor  even  as  the  retainers  of  such,  upon  whom  the  chief 
of  the  banditti  may  have  bestowed  the  title  of  noble;  nor  did 
our  forebears  cherish  pride  of  personal  achievement  because  of 
rising  from  the  dregs  of  poverty  and  meanness.  Thus  we  can 
pride  ourselves  not  upon  connection  with  a  doubtful  feudal 
nobility,  nor  upon  extreme  poverty,  but  simply  upon  an  ancient, 
respectable  independence  and  trust  in  God  for  daily  bread." 

Dr.  Gilbert  MacMaster  was  first  a  physician,  but  afterwards 
became  a  minister  in  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church.  His 
son,  Erasmus  D.  was  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1827; 
studied  divinity  under  his  father,  and  for  the  following  seven 
years  had  his  first  and  only  pastoral  charge  at  Ballston,  N.  Y. 
These  early  days  seem  to  have  been  passed  in  studious  retirement 
and  a  full  measure  of  scholarly  preparation;  and  it  was  one  of 
the  passions  of  his  life  to  urge  the  same  upon  others;  but  from 
this  leisure,  he  was  aroused  by  the  urgent  educational  needs  of 
the  church  in  the  West.  In  1838,  he  became  President  of 
Hanover  College,  in  Indiana.  This  institution,  in  its  founder 
and  many  of  its  early  supporters,  had  known  men  of  noble  type ; 
but  the  educational  ideals  of  southern  Indiana,  in  1838,  were  not 
high;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  patrons  of  this  college 
and  the  new  President  found  much  on  first  acquaintance  which 
was  a  mutual  surprise.  Dr.  MacMaster  was  a  plain  talker ;  both 
parties  were  good  fighters;  and  controversies  ensued,  in  which, 
as  Dr.  Thomas  said,  "the  wounds  inflicted  were  mutual."  Dr. 

54 


MacMaster,  in  mistaken  zeal,  attempted  to  remove  the  college 
to  Madison,  but  failed. 

In  an  address  to  the  graduating  class,  in  1839,  President  Mac 
Master  said: 

"But  gentlemen,  study, — study, — study,  thoroughly,  deeply,  intensely 
the  departments  of  human  learning  that  bear  especially  upon  your  own 
particular  aims  and  pursuits.  Avoid  ignorance  on  these  subjects.  Avoid 
crudeness  in  your  knowledge  of  that  which  it  is  your  particular  business 
to  know  well.  Avoid  crudeness  in  your  performances.  In  order  to  do  this, 
study.  Its  extempore  character  is  not  among  the  glories  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century.  Extempore  speaking,  and  extempore  writing,  and  extempore  act 
ing  are  enervating  the  strength  of  every  profession,  evaporating  the  mind 
of  our  country,  cursing  the  land,  and  starving  the  church  of  God!  Let 
your  studies  be  well  directed.  Let  them  aim  at  practical  results.  But  fear 
not,  gentlemen,  the  taint  of  lamp-oil  upon  your  work." 

In  1845,  Dr.  MacMaster  was  elected  President  of  Miami 
University,  to  succeed  Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  Junkin,  and  removed  to 
Oxford,  Ohio.  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.  Stevenson,  so  long  Secretary  of 
the  American  Tract  Society,  has  written,  "Dr.  Thomas  was 
almost  the  first,  both  in  time  and  ability,  in  our  church,  in  the 
West,  who  thoroughly  studied  and  manfully  defended  the  right 
of  the  slave  to  freedom."  Who,  of  such,  were  first  in  time,  the 
notes  in  this  volume  fully  and  more  accurately  disclose.  Dr.  E. 
D.  MacMaster  was  the  first  in  ability,  and  first  in  the  effort,  and, 
finally,  in  the  sacrifice  he  made,  in  the  anti-slavery  contest  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church.* 

Beyond  all  others,  his  influence,  efforts  and  ability  were 
clear  and  commanding  in  maintaining  a  powerful  anti-slavery 
movement,  not  of  the  church,  but  in  the  Presbyterian  church; 
and  when  that  movement  was,  perhaps,  most  difficult  to  main 
tain,  which  was  after  the  remarkable,  late  growth  of  the  slave 
power,  and  just  before  the  great  uprising.  But  he  never  was,  in 
any  technical  sense,  an  abolitionist :  he  had  refused  to  join  any 
abolition  society;  nor  would  he  have  ever  subscribed  to  the 
resolutions  which  Dr.  Thomas  so  early  and  so  often  wrote  to 
express  the  due  and  proper  attitude  of  the  church.  If,  as  I 
think  has  been  fairly  said  elsewhere,  anti-slavery  men  are  entitled 
to  rank  in  honor  according  to  their  priorities  of  date,  no  high 
rank  would  be  assigned  to  Dr.  MacMaster;  but  when  he  came, 
he  was  a  host.  The  pre-eminence  claimed  for  him,  however,  must 
be  confined  to  the  years  from  1855  to  1860 :  yet  this  was  a  time 

*  Except  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  J.  Breckenridge?  Dr.  B.  never  did 
anything  in  the  anti-slavery  controversy  which  cost  him  much,  barring  po 
litical  preferment,  and  that  he  did  not  want.  But  it  is  hard  to  say  that 
in  whatever  he  was  concerned  with,  anybody  else  stood  first  in  influence  or 
ability.  "Why  did  Grant  go  ahead  of  the  other  Union  Generals"?  asked 
my  son  the  other  day.  I  replied,  "Because  of  his  ability".  "What",  was 
the  next  and  unanswerable  question  of  the  little  boy,  "What  do  you  mean 
by  ability"? 

55 


when  a  "Kentucky  mist"  had  settled  down  upon  the  Emancipa 
tionists  of  that  State,  until  no  one  across  the  river  could  tell 
the  difference  between  Robert  J.  Breckinridge  and  Stuart 
Bobison. 

There  had  been  no  change  in  the  politics  of  a  majority  of 
the  trustees  of  Miami  University,  who  had  deposed  Dr.  Bishop, 
and  who  chose  Dr.  MacMaster  in  part  because  of  his  moderation 
of  views  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  In  fact,  Dr.  MacMaster  was 
a  Democrat.  "I  am,"  he  said,  "  a  democrat  as  I  understand 
democracy:"  and  he  denounced  "the  evil  of  an  excessively 
augmenting  public  revenue,  collected,  contrary  to  the  principles 
and  genius  of  a  democratic  government,  by  indirect  taxation; 
and  consequent  corruption."  Dr.  MacMaster  never  married.  His 
father,  now  aged  and  retired  from  active  ministry,  and  also  his 
sisters,  constituted  his  family  here,  and  while  they  survived, 
remained  under  his  roof  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  maintain  a 
household.  Many  able  and  prominent  men, — among  others, 
Grimke  of  South  Carolina,  Wm.  M.  Cory,  Samuel  Galloway,  Dr. 
John  C.  Young,  Dr.  John  W.  Scott,  Chauncey  N.  Olds,  Rt.  Rev. 
J.  B.  Purcell  and  Gov.  Chas.  Anderson, — have  delivered  addresses 
at  Oxford;  but  reading  them  now,  it  is  plain  that  none  of  them 
have  ever  equalled  in  merit  Dr.  MacMaster's  public  addresses 
there.  Most  notable  of  these  was  that  on  the  occasion  of  his 
resigning  the  Presidency,  delivered  Commencement  Day,  1849. 
In  no  page  of  our  literature  can  words  be  found  to  equal  these 
on  the  subject  of  the  necessity  and  value  of  a  proper  training 
for  professional  men. 

"The  true  object  of  college  studies  is  to  give  to  young  men,  beside  the 
formation  of  high  and  noble  and  gentlemanly  character,  the  intellectual 
development,  training,  and  discipline  qualifying  them  for  the  studies  and 
the  subsequent  exercise  of  the  liberal  professions  and  for  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs  in  the  different  departments  of  life.  To  qualify  men  for 
this  all  their  intellectual  faculties  must  be  quickened,  sharpened,  invigor 
ated.  They  must  acquire  the  power  and  the  habit  of  searching  and  thor 
ough  investigation ;  of  accurate  observation ;  of  keen-sighted  discrimina 
tion  ;  of  precise,  exact  and  truthful  conception  and  definition ;  of  high, 
sound  and  just  generalization;  and  of  close  and  rigorous  ratiocination  on 
every  subject  of  their  inquiry ;  and  of  a  sober,  chastened,  and  well-bal 
anced  judgment,  and  broad,  large,  and  comprehensive  views  upon  all  the 
great  interests  of  man  that  come  before  them  and  on  which  they  are 
called  to  act.  To  accomplish  this  object  appropriate  means  must  be  used ; 
the  exercise  of  these  intellectual  faculties  in  a  course  of  long  and  severe 
studies  and  upon  commanding  objects  of  intellectual  interest:  and  this 
must  be  carried  on  without  the  continual  obtrusion  upon  us  at  every  step 
of  that  miserable,  mean-spirited,  inquiry,  what's  its  use? — its  use  in  refer 
ence  to  a  utilitarianism  of  the  narrowest  views  and  the  most  contracted 
spirit. 

Well  then, — if  you  wish  that  the  young  men  who  are  to  be  your 
physicians,  crude,  and  coarse,  and  low-minded,  shall  compound  pills  with 
out  knowledge  and  hawk  them  out  without  judgment  and  without  con 
science,  to  cure  or  to  kill  as  chance  may  determine ;  college  studies  are  of 
no  use  to  them.  But  if  you  desire  that  the  men  whom  you  admit  to  the 

56 


most  confidential  intimacies  of  your  households,  and  into  whose  hands 
you  put  the  life  of  yourselves  and  your  families  in  the  day  of  sickness 
and  danger,  shall  be  gentlemen  of  refinement,  of  delicacy,  of  honour ;  and, 
bringing  to  the  investigation  of  medical  science  and  its  application  with 
discernment  and  judgment  to  the  healing  art,  a  well-disciplined  mind 
trained  to  habits  of  observation,  of  reflection,  or  discrimination,  of  scien 
tific  inferring,  shall  become  what  so  many  of  that  enlightened  and  humane 
profession  have  always  been,  the  alleviators  of  human  suffering,  the  re 
storers  of  health,  the  conservators  of  life,  the  ministering  angels  of  your 
households,  so  often  driving  the  destroyer  Death  from  your  doors ; — if  this 
be  what  you  desire  them  to  be,  I  need  not  tell  you  of  what  use  to  them  is 
all  liberal  learning  and  the  highest  intellectual  as  well  as  moral  culture. 
If  you  mean  that  your  son  shall  be  only  a  little  scribbling  attorney  and 
quibbling,  shirking  pettifogger,  the  liberal  studies  of  the  college  are  of  no 
use  to  him. 

But  if  you  mean  that  he  shall  be  a  lawyer,  with  an  eye  to 
discern  amid  statutes  and  cases  a  principle,  with  the  head  to  comprehend 
the  relation  between  principle  and  principle,  and  with  the  soul  to  feel  the 
moral  dignity  and  grandeur  of  that  great  body  of  civil  and  criminal  juris 
prudence  which  the  wisdom  of  ages  has  reared  up  as  a  bulwark  for  the 
protection  of  the  right  and  the  punishment  of  the  wrong;  the  defender 
of  the  innocent ;  the  worthy  and  able  expositor  and  pleader  of  what  is  one 
noble  department  of  that  more  general  Law,  "whose  seat  is  the  bosom  of 
God;  its  voice  the  harmony  of  the  universe;  to  which  all  things  in  heaven 
and  earth  do  homage;  the  least  as  feeling  its  care,  the  greatest  as  not. 
exempt  from  its  power", — if  this  be  what  you  mean  your  son  shall  be,  I 
need  not  tell  you  of  what  use  to  him  is  all  good  learning,  and  the  severest 
discipline,  sharpening  his  wits,  and  giving  clearness,  and  grasp,  and  power 
to  his  intellect. 

If  you  intend  your  son  shall  be  the  hanger-on  and  hack  of 
this  or  that  unscrupulous  and  profligate  political  party,  to  take  his  cue 
from  his  file  leader,  to  advance  when  the  party  advances,  to  recede  when 
it  recedes ;  to  face  about  when  it  faces  about ; — all  freedom  of  thought 
prohibited,  all  fearless  and  honest  inquiry  after  and  advocacy  of  the  truth 
suppressed,  all  manly  spirit  of  independence  in  his  bosom  crushed,  all 
generous  sentiments  of  justice  and  magnanimity  in  his  heart  extinguished, 
all  sense  of  personal  responsibility  lost;  to  shout  when  he  is  directed  to 
shout  and  hiss  when  he  is  directed  to  hiss,  to  applaud  and  to  calumniate 
whom  and  what  and  when  he  is  bidden ;  and  to  take  his  pay  in  the  share 
of  "the  spoils"  he  may  be  able  to  grab  in  the  scramble  of  the  division ; — 
the  veriest  slave  of  unprincipled  and  heartless  faction ; — if  this  be  what 
you  intend  your  son  shall  be,  why  certainly  a  college  is  not  the  school  to 
which  you  should  send  him.  But  if  you  desire  that  your  son  should  aspire 
to  be  what  is  still  higher  than  the  lawyer; — "for  the  wisdom  of  the  lawyer 
is  one  thing,  and  that  of  the  law-maker  another;" — if  you  should  have 
him  aspire  to  be,  and  God  have  given  him,  what  he  gives  to  few,  the  head 
and  the  heart  to  be  what  is  higher  than  the  lawyer — to  be  a  Statesman, — 
from  a  deep  and  thorough  insight  into  the  whole  physical,  intellectual, 
moral,  and  social  constitution  of  man  and  of  all  the  circumstances  that 
go  to  modify  the  condition  of  man  among  different  peoples  and  in  different 
times,  to  evolve  the  great  principles  of  legislation  and  government,  and 
verifying  these  by  lessons  of  wisdom  drawn  from  the  depths  of  a  profound 
philosophy,  and  illustrating  and  confirming  them  by  the  light  collected  from 
the  history  of  all  nations  and  ages,  with  the  penetrating  sight,  the  far- 
reaching  grasp  of  thought,  the  comprehending  views,  the  generalizing  and 
combining  power,  and  the  fertile  invention  of  the  ApXlT€XOVLX7  <£povyo-is, 
the  master-mind — to  seize  great  political  and  economical  truths  which  lie 
unobserved  by  other  men,  and  to  strike  out  new  lines  of  policy  by  which 
the  people  are  made  prosperous  and  states  are  made  great ; — if  this  be 

57 


what  you  would  have  your  son  aspire  to  be,  then  I  suppose  it  is  obvious 
enough  of  what  use  to  him  are  the  highest  culture  of  intellect  and  the 
most  earnest  pursuit  of  all  liberal  knowledge  and  learning. 

If  you  expect  those  who  are  to  be  your  future  ministers  of  religion  to  dole 
out  for  the  thousandth  time  in  the  stereotype  phrases  of  dull  insipidity,  the 
common-place  talk  which  they  have  absorbed  from  those  around  them,  inmixea 
and  diversified  ever  and  anon  with  their  own  erroneous  crudities ;  or  to 
supply  with  noisy  vociferation  and  wordy  volubility,  or  with  low  and  pro 
fane  antics  and  clap-trap  devices,  the  want  of  thought,  and  sense,  and 
piety ; — why  then  indeed  I  do  not  myself  see  that  they  have  any  need  at 
all  of  Greek,  or  Logic,  or  Metaphysics;  or  learning  of  any  kind.  But  if 
you  would  have  the  men  who  are  to  be  for  you  and  for  the  world  "stew 
ards  of  the  "mysteries  of  God",  and  the  preachers  of  that  gospel  which  is 
to  them  who  hear,  in  some  the  savour  of  death  unto  death,  and  in  some 
of  life  unto  life ; — if  you  would  have  them,  feeling  the  dignity  of  Heaven's 
high  commission,  God's  embassy  of  reconciliation  to  rebellious  men,  and 
how  dread  a  thing  it  is  to  stand  between  the  Majesty  in  the  heavens  and 
perishing  sinners,  and  treat  with  them  of  things  involving  such  issues  as 
those  of  the  great  salvation; — if  you  would  have  them,  feeling  this,  to 
bring  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Sacred  Oracles,  beside  the  requisite  spir 
itual  qualification,  the  mental  capacity  and  the  intellectual  furniture  of 
independent  interpreters,  that  having  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  therein,  ns 
Scribes  thoroughly  instructed  unto  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  they  may  ex 
pound  and  apply  the  Scriptures,  that  by  the  faith  of  these  men  may  have 
God's  gift  of  eternal  life  in  His  Son ; — Oh !  friends,  if  this  is  what  you 
would  have  your  future  ministers  of  religion  to  be,  then  you  will  never 
again  think  of  asking  of  what  use  to  them  is  the  disciplinary  training  that 
can  by  any  and  all  means  enlarge  the  capacity  and  increase  the  power  of 
their  intellect,  or  of  the  widest  range  of  knowledge  and  learning  that  can 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  this  'relief  of  man's  estate'." 

Dr.  MacMaster  left  the  presidency  of  Miami  University  hop 
ing  that  he  might  keep  alive  the  New  Albany  Theological 
Seminary.  His  advent  there  was  the  signal  for  an  assualt  upon 
him  and  that  institution  from  almost  all  the  pro-slavery  organs 
and  ministers  of  the  church.*  Dr.  Thomas  soon  went  to  his 
friend's  assistance, — but  it  is  needless  to  comment  on  or  tell  the 
story  now,  which  these  letters  have  narrated. 

From  this  time  forth,  and  without  any  wish  or  intent  on 
his  part  that  it  should  be  so,  the  main  work  of  Dr.  MacMaster's 

*  The  Southern  Presbyterian,  published  at  Columbia,  South 
Carolina,  by  the  professors  of  the  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary  located  there,  said  editorially,  on  the  appointment 
of  Dr.  Thomas  to  the  chair  in  the  New  Albany  Seminary : 

"Dr.  Thomas,  of  whom  we  know  little  except  that  he  is  held  in  much 
esteem  for  his  abilities  in  his  own  part  of  the  country,  has  accepted  a 
chair  in  the  seminary  at  New  Albany,  and  by  so  doing  will,  no  doubt, 
give  a  new  impetus  to  this  institution,  whose  existence  has  been  seriously 
threatened  by  the  establishment  of  the  Danville  Seminary.  Dr.  Thomas 
some  years  since  was  a  conspicuous  leader  of  the  abolition  party  in  Ohio, 
Whether  he  has  changed  his  views  on  that  subject  or  not,  we  are  not 
informed;  but  if  he  has  not,  the  fears  which  have  been  entertained,  may 
prove  not  altogether  groundless,  namely,  that  the  New  Albany  Seminary 
may  become  an  engine  for  the  propagation  of  abolitionism  in  the  North 
West.  Dr.  MacMaster,  another  professor,  is  not  free  from  the  suspicion 
of  a  similar  taint." 

58 


life  was  in  maintaining,  reviving,  moderating,  and  directing  the 
anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  church.  With  what  wisdom, 
eloquence,  and  resolution  he  did  this,  can  in  part  be  shown  by 
quotation  from  his  published  speeches  and  letters.  In  an  address 
on  "The  True  Life  of  A  Nation,"  delivered  at  Miami  University, 
in  1856,  he  said : 

"On  slavery  where  it  already  exists,  I  have  seldom  publicly  spoken  or 
written,  because  not  living  among  a  slaveholding  people,  I  have  thought  it 
less  my  vocation  to  discuss  this  subject  than  evils  existing  among  our 
selves;  and  because  I  have  been  convinced  that,  if  the  question  of  slavery 
is  to  have  an  issue,  peaceful  and  beneficial  to  all  the  parties  concerned, 
men  living  in  the  midst  of  it  alone  are  competent  to  deal  effectually  with 
it ;  and  I  have  always  cherished,  and  am  still  disposed  to  cherish,  the 
hope,  that  there  will  be  found  in  the  States  where  slavery  exists  true- 
hearted  ministers  of  the  Divine  Word,  and  true  statesmen,  who,  in  their 
respective  spheres,  would  be  faithful  in  the  great  work  which  God  has 
laid  upon  them ;  in  preparing  the  way  and  guiding  the  people  in  measures 
for  the  abolition  of  the  whole  system.  Whenever  I  have  spoken  upon  this 
subject,  it  has  been  with  a  clear  and  full  recognition  of  the  manifold 
and  great  difficulties  which  embarass  the  question  of  slavery  and  the  slave 
population,  as  one  to  be  practically  dealt  with ;  with  disapproval  of  the 
injustice  of  indiscriminate  denunciation  of  all  the  guilty  and  the  innocent 
alike,  who  are  in  any  way  connected  with  the  system ;  and  with  an  ac 
knowledgement  of  the  great  consideration  which  I  think  is  justly  due  to 
honest-hearted  men,  implicated  unwillingly  in  the  evils  of  the  system,  who 
are  doing  the  best  they  can  under  their  circumstances,  and  are  seeking, 
in  patience  and  prudence,  by  means  wise,  safe,  and  feasible,  to  bring  it  as 
soon  as  possible  to  an  end." 

"All  this  I  have  always  said:  all  this  I  now  repeat.  But  having  said 
these  things,  I  say  further,  that  when  the  question  Is  about  a  demand  on 
the  whole  nation,  the  Free  States  as  well  as  the  slaveholding,  through  the 
national  government,  to  nationalize  a  system  which  exists  only  by  local  law, 
or  custom  having  the  force  of  law,  and  to  perpetuate  it,  and  extend  it  into 
new  territories,  then,  fellow-citizens,  the  question  belongs  to  you,  to  me, 
and  to  us  all,  and  to  each  of  us;  the  merits  of  the  system  are  open  to 
discussion ;  and  upon  it,  as  upon  all  other  great  political  and  moral  evils 
which  afflict  our  country,  and  its  remedy,  I  must  speak  as  I  have  always 
done,  plain  and  fearless  words,  according  to  the  truth  of  the  case  as  I 
apprehend  it.  Christianity  I  believe  to  be  the  true  remedy  for  all  moral 
evils,  and  for  all  political  evils  which  arise  from  moral  causes.  I  believe 
that  it  is  the  only  effectual  remedy  for  this  evil  of  slavery.  Let  us  enquire 
how  Christianity  deals  with  slavery." 

"The  Epistle  of  Philemon  is,  I  believe,  with  the  "Christian"  defenders 
of  slavery,  the  classical  epistle ;  though,  for  the  life  of  me,  I  never  could 
see  why.  Well,  what  does  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  say?  Onesirnus,  a  fugi 
tive  slave,  came  to  Rome,  where  he  met  Paul,  and  was  by  his  ministry 
converted  to  Christianity.  Paul  sent  him  back  to  his  master  Philemon, 
also  a  Christian,  with  a  letter.  And  what  does  the  letter  say?  'To  the 
Honorable  Mr.  Philemon,  greeting;  Sir:  I,  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  Jesus 
Christ,  being  here  at  Rome,  on  the  business  of  my  apostleship,  have  caught 
Onesimus,  your  tool  with  a  soul  in  it  running  away ;  and  having  captured 
it,  and  handcuffed  it,  I  had  it  up  before  the  Prefect,  and  have  got  out  a 
warrant ;  and  now  I  send  back  to  you  your  tool  with  a  soul  in  it,  in  chains, 
that  you  may  recover  your  property ;  for  we  have  a  law,  and  by  our  law 
you  have  an  undoubted  right  to  your  tool  with  a  soul  in  it.  And'  the  grace 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your  spirit,  brother  Philemon ;  Amen !" 
Was  this  the  Epistle?  No ;  not  exactly.  Happily  the  document  is  extant, 

59 


and  in  your  own  hands,  and  in  your  own  tongue  wherein  you  were  born, 
that  you  may  read  and  understand.  How  read  you? — 'Paul,  a  prisoner  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  Philemon : — /  might  ~be  much  bold  in  Jesus  Christ  to  enjoin 
thee  that  which  is  convenient;  yet  for  love's  sake  I  rather  beseech  thee  for 
my  son  Onesimus ;  whom  I  have  sent  again.  Thou,  therefore  receive  him, 
that  is  mine  own  bowels.  Receive  him  not  now  as  a  servant  (a  doulos,  a 
tool,  or  a  servant  even)  ;  but  above  a  servant,  a  BROTHER; — Receive  him  AS 
MYSELF.'  That  is  the  letter.  I  think  that  if  the  Commissioners'  papers 
under  our  fugitive  slave  law  were  made  out  in  the  terms  of  this  mittimus 
of  Paul,  there  would  be  no  mobs  about  the  matter,  around  Faneuil  Hall, 
the  old  cradle  of  liberty." 

In  a  sermon  published  at  New  Albany  in  1856,  Dr.  MacMaster  said : 
"On  this  topic  of  slavery,  the  subject  of  a  controversy  often  so  wretch 
edly  managed  on  both  sides,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  speak  with  precision,  and 
even  with  circumspection.  The  slavery  spoken  of  in  this  sermon  is  not  any 
system  of  mere  servitude,  which  recognizes  the  servant  as  a  moral  person, 
though  in  an  inferior  relation,  and  protects  his  rights  as  such ;  which  servi 
tude  may  be  right  or  wrong,  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 
But  the  slavery  spoken  of  is  that  system  which  declares  human  beings  to 
be,  not  moral  persons,  but  'goods  and  chattels',  incapable  of  sustaining 
personal  relations  or  possessing  personal  rights,  with  all  that  legitimately 
flows  from  this  fundamental  principle  of  the  slavery  with  which  we  have 
to  do.  The  distinction  is  vital  to  the  whole  question  of  the  moral  character 
of  slavery.  It  is  a  distinction  which  a  child,  who  chooses,  can  perceive. 
Slavery  as  the  term  is  here  used,  and  as  it  is  defined  by  the  laws  creating 
the  institution,  no  honest  man  will  defend  or  say  to  be  right.  Why  then 
should  there  be  any  controversy  about  it?  As  to  the  means  of  removal, 
among  reflecting  men  there  is  a  like  agreement.  All  believe  that  this  is 
mainly  the  moral  power  of  the  gospel,  aided  by  political  and  economical 
considerations.  But,  trusting  in  the  spirit  of  Christianity  in  the  heart  of 
the  master  as  the  only  power  that  can  be  relied  on  to  induce  him  to  give 
to  his  bondman  that  which  is  just  and  equal,  and  to  the  same  spirit  to 
influence  the  servant  to  fulfill  his  duties,  whether  as  bond  or  free,  it  is 
the  business  of  the  church,  and  especially  it  is  the  business  of  the  minis 
ters  of  God's  word,  in  fit  time  and  place,  with  discriminate  and  right  tem 
per,  to  expound  the  Divine  law  in  its  application  to  the  whole  subject,  and 
to  point  out  the  moral  character  of  the  existing  institution  of  slavery  as 
judged  by  that  law."  * 

In  another  note  on  the  General  Assembly  at  Indianapolis,  in 
1859,  something  further  has  been  stated  and  all  that  space  allows 

*  Students  of  the  anti-slavery  controversy  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  will  note  that  Dr.  MacMaster  is  here  at  work  on  the  marrow  of 
Prof.  Chas.  Hodge's  adroit  defense  of  slavery,  which  rougher  and  smaller 
ministers  of  the  church  in  the  West  only  reiterated  and  worked  out  in  its 
further  and  legitimate  conclusions.  And  the  historian  of  this  great  Contro 
versy,  who  will  yet  come,  will,  when  he  comes,  not  fail  to  note  that  those 
in  the  church,  at  least  in  the  North,  who  were  friends  and  defenders  of 
human  slavery,  did  not  claim  that  it  was  right,  but  denounced  any  asser 
tion  that  it  was  wrong;  whether  the  system  was  right  or  wrong,  they 
claimed  was  no  business  of  the  church.  When,  later  on.  "The  General  As 
sembly  of  the  Confederate  States"  got  off  by  themselves  in  an  unapproach 
able  independence,  they  "testified"  on  this  old  issue,  in  terms  that  would 
have  satisfied  Drs.  Wilson,  Junkin  and  Rice.  They  said :  "We  would  have 
it  distinctly  understood  that  in  our  ecclesiastical  capacity,  we  are  neither 
the  friends  nor  the  foes  of  slavery.  We  have  no  right,  as  a  church,  to 
enjoin  it  as  a  duty,  or  to  condemn  it  as  a  sin".) 

60 


about  the  personnel  of  Dr.  MacMaster,  and  his  speech  at  Indian 
apolis,  the  only  time  he  ever  appeared  in  any  General  Assembly 
of  the  church.  By  probably  all  not  in  privity  or  sympathy  with 
the  causes  or  persons  who  brought  it  about,  his  practical  banish 
ment  for  nearly  ten  years  was  regarded  as  great  waste  of  high 
faculties  always  needed  and  rarely  found.  There  is  something 
pitiable  in  the  sight  of  such  a  man  as  he  "raising  corn  upon  a 
farm,  in  order  that  he  might  have  bread  to  eat."  Perhaps  there 
is  comfort  in  the  thought  that  in  that  day,  many  things  radically 
wrong  in  this  country,  were  rapidly  and  radically  righting 
themselves.  At  any  rate,  all  his  friends  rejoiced  when  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Church  restored  him  to  his  professor 
ship  in  the  Seminary  at  Chicago,  in  1866;  and  nothing  in  my 
father's  life  gave  him  a  higher  pleasure  than  to  be  officially 
appointed  to  communicate  to  him  this  intelligence. 

At  the  Seminary  at  Chicago,  Dr.  MacMaster's  service  was 
to  last  but  a  few  months.  All  his  colleagues  and  the  students 
there  bore  witness  to  the  gentleness  and  winning  loveliness  of 
his  manner  and  intercourse  with  all  about  him,  and  to  the  skill, 
the  fullness  and  ripened  scholarship  which  he  brought  into  his 
classroom  instruction.  The  unaccustomed  severity  of  this  winter 
climate  brought  on  a  severe  pneumonia,  which  ended  his  days 
on  December  10,  1866.  About  his  death  bed,  professors  and 
students  gathered  in  sympathy  and  awe.  To  their  questions,  he 
replied:  "I  have  never  expected  to  die  in  ecstacies,  or  to 
experience  such  'transports  as  some  Christians  have  done.  It 
would  not  accord  with  the  character  of  my  mind  or  the  nature  of 
my  religion."  But  life  ebbed  slowly  away:  here  was  a  Puritan 
at  his  life's  end,  who  was  closing  a  record  of  almost  Apostolic 
devotion;  and  amid  the  wanderings  of  his  mind,  and  the  dribble 
of  the  report  of  what  others  said  to  him  and  he  said  to  them,  we 
get  glimpses  of  the  soul  of  old  Dr.  MacMaster:  "The  interests 
of  this  Seminary,  and  the  interests  of  truth  and  righteousness 
in  connection  with  it,  require  that  it  shall  be  in  the  hands  of 
those  who  would  not  oppress  and  destroy  the  image  of  God  in 
man."  ******  «It  ig  a  peasant  thought  that  I  am 
going  to  be  with  that  blessed  mother  and  my  beloved  father  and 

my  dear  sisters,  and  where,  besides  these,  will  be  all  the  Saints." 
***** 

"Satan  comes  to  me  and  tempts  me.  He  says  I  have  not  loved 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  nor  served  him  with  all  my  heart.  I  have 
told  my  Savior  that  a  thousand  times.  Get  thee  behind  me, 

Satan !    Thou  canst  not  take  my  Crown  from  me." 
*  *  '  *  *  * 

In  response  to  prompt  and  due  invitation,  Dr.  Thomas 
preached  no  sermon  at  the  funeral  in  McCormick  Theological 
Seminary;  nor,  later  on,  delivered  any  eulogy  or  address  before 
the  Presbyterian  Historical  Society  of  Philadelphia;  but  he  met 

61 


the  body  en  route  from  Chicago  to  Xenia,  in  charge  of  Dr. 
MacMaster's  brother,  expecting,  with  him,  to  go  alone  to  see  to 
its  burial.  But  following  the  remains,  or  gathered  there,  with 
like  intent,  was  a  goodly  number  of  staunch  Presbyterian  folk; 
and,  on  their  insistence,  an.  extemporary  funeral  was  held  where 
Dr.  Thomas  delivered  what  I  have  always  thought  was  the 
greatest  of  all  his  sermons.* 

Fine  as  were  his  scholarship,  and  facult3T  for  instruction, 
and,  at  times,  his  epistolary  or  other  writing,  his  most  notable 
gift  was  not  these,  but  chaste,  fervid,  effective  oratorical  speech. 
Surely,  never  was  so  great  a  funeral  oration  delivered  to  so 
small  an  audience,  as  was  heard  that  day,  which  was  wholly  un 
expected,  and  wholly  unreported. 

Dr.  MacMaster's  bones  are  laid  beside  those  of  his  family 
and  kindred  in  the  cemetery  at  Xenia,  Ohio. — A.  A.  T. 


FROM  PROFESSOR   J.   W.   SCOTT. 
Dr.  Junkin  and  abolitionism  in  Miami  University. 

Oxford,  Feb.  19th,  1844. 

The  bearer  will  inform  you  more  particularly  of  the  im 
mediate  object  of  this  letter.  I  can  but  merely  drop  a  line  to 
add-  my  confirmation  to  his  report,  and  my  request  to  that  of 
a  number  of  the  good  friends  here  of  which  he  is  the  bearer. 

We  have  recently  had  the  old  veteran  in  the  abolition  cause, 
Arnold  Buffum,  here  delivering  us  three  lectures  bearing  on  the 
subject,  which  have  brought  out  that  champion,  "the  President 
of  M-i-ami  University,  George  Junkin,  D.  D." ! !  to  deliver  us  a 
tirade  on  the  subject  of  "rampant,  fanatical,  modern  abolition 
ism",  to  set  our  community  right  on  the  question.  This  evening 
we  had  the  introductory,  announced  to  be  on  the  African  Slave- 
trade,  but  which  was  headed  with  quite  a  fiery  exordium,  to 
give  us  a  taste,  I  suppose,  of  what  the  conclusion  is  to  be, 
against  all  abolitionism  and  abolitionists,  and  especially  against 
that  unprincipled  old  agitator  and  "prevaricator",  bought  up 
and  hired  for  the  purpose,  as  the  Dr.  is  to  show  before  he  is 
done,  by  "British  Gold",  whose  name  is  at  the  head  of  this  para 
graph.  Tomorrow  evening  he  is  to  get  into  the  marrow  of  the 
matter,  by  showing  "the  absurdity,  the  futility,  the  utter  folly 

*  Except  one;  delivered  also  unexpectedly,  when,  returning:  from 
Oxford  with  me,  he  was  stopped  and  pressed  by  his  old  parishioners  into 
a  called  evening  meeting,  in  the  basement  of  the  Hamilton  Church.  The 
associations  of  his  Oxford  visit,  and  of  this  place,  seemed  to  inspire  him ; 
and,  with  every  faculty  under  perfect  command,  but  all  aflame,  for  an  hour 
he  swept  along  in  glorious  oratory ;  yet  I  can  recall  but  one  portion  of  this 
address,  and  that  was  a  magnificent  description  of  a  Roman  Triumph. 
A.  A.  T. 

62 


and  madness  of  the  modern  fanatical  abolitionism,  as  a  cure  for 
slavery." 

Now  these  •  presents  are  to  the  intent  that  you,  Thomas 
Ebenezer  Thomas,  mad,  modern  abolitionist,  of  the  Borough  of 
Rossville,  County  of  Butler,  and  State  of  Ohio,  in  view  of  tlie 
premises,  be  and  appear  at  the  house  of  me,  J.  W.  Scott,  of  the 
Borough  of  Oxford,  and  County  and  State  aforesaid,  on  the 
evening  of  tomorrow,  being  Tuesday  the  20th  day  of  Feb'y.  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1844,  to  take  a  cup  of  tea, — or  coffee  as  the 
case  may  be, — and  thence  to  proceed  to  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  with  pen,  ink  and  paper,  then  and  there,  and  therewith 
(a  little  more  than  the  ordinary  legal  phrase)  to  take  notes  of 
said  awful  bull  of  excommunication,  and  handmg  over  to  Satan 
of  said  abolitionists  and  abolitionism;  and  farther,  that  you 
come  provided  with  all  the  necessary  material  in  the  form  of 
aryti-slavery  documents,  which  may  be  necessary  to  form  a 
shelter  to  shield  yourself,  and  friends,  and  cause  from  the 
dreadfulness,  and  demolishing  character  of  the  blow.  And  of 
this  fail  not,  under  the  pains  and  penalties  due,  and  m  such 
cases  provided.  Given  under  our  hand,  in  our  bed-room,  this 
midway  between  Feb.  19th  and  Feb.  20th,  1844- 

J.  W.  Scott. 

FROM  REV.  SAMUEL  CROTHERS,  D.  D. 
Against  organizing  an  anti-slavery  Presbytery. 

Greenfield,  O.,  Aug.  2,  1844. 

I  received  a  few  days  since  a  letter  from  Arthur  B.  Brad 
ford,  Darlington,  Beaver  Co.  Pa.,  stating  that  he  and  Wells 
Bushnell  had  been  deputed  by  the  Anti-Slavery  brethren  of 
Beaver  Presbytery,  ministerial  and  lay,  to  correspond  with  those 
of  the  same  stamp  in  this  region,  on  our  present  prospects  and 
duties.  Probably  they  have  written  to  you:  if  not,  I  will  state 
briefly,  that  John  Knox  has  seceded  on  account  of  slavery.  Five 
of  the  ministers  are  ready  to  do  so.  "Numbers  of  the  very  best 
members  of  the  congregations  will  go";  some  have  gone.  They 
had  understood  that  we  were  in  the  same  state  of  mind,  and 
intimated  that  they  were  disposed  to  act  with  us.  I  replied,  in 
substance,  that  not  more  than  two  of  our  members,  (the  young 
est),  were  in  favor  of  a  new  organization;  that  our  not  sending 
a  commissioner  to  the  Assembly  was  intended  to  rouse  the 
Assembly  to  do  something  either  with  slaveholders  or  aboli 
tionists;  that  from  some  past  experience,  we  were  disposed  to 
think  that  a  new  organization  was  not  advisable:  it  would  cut 
us  off  from  direct  influence  on  the  Presbyterian  church ;  it  would 
drive  the  plow-share  through  our  churches  and  Presbyteries; 
that  no  minister  would  join  us  except  those  whose  congregations 

63 


are  abolitionized ;  it  would  invite  surrounding  denominations  to 
make  inroads  upon  us:  we  would  soon  have  shoals  of  applicants 
from  suspected  quarters  desirous  of  acquiring  a  reputation  for 
orthodoxy  by  union  with  Beaver,  Chillicothe,  etc.;  and  that  we 
would  soon  find  ourselves  in  a  denomination  with  whom  we 
could  agree  on  no  subject  except  the  sinfulness  of  slavery;  and 
finally,  we  would  soon  quarrel  about  what  constitutes  a  good 
abolitionist. 

Yours  in  the  best  of  bonds, 

S.   Crothers. 

P.  S.  I  am  informed  that  at  a  large  meeting  at  Hillsbor- 
ough  yesterday,  a  petition  was  circulated  by  the  Alumni  of 
Miami  University  for  the  removal  of  "Dr.  Junkin,  D.  D.,  Pres 
ident,  etc.  etc."  The  Alumni,  without  exception,  signed, 
although  many  of  them  are  anti-abolitionists.  This,  in  connec 
tion  with  the  universal  unwillingness  in  this  region  to  send  a 
a  student  to  Oxford  while  he  is  there,  shows  how  the  tone  of 
public  opinion  is  changing. 

CALL     FOR     PRESBYTERIAN     ANTI-SLAVERY     CONVENTION,     AT 

HAMILTON,  OHIO. 

Rossville,  August   16,   1844. 

Dr.  Bailey:  Please  publish  the  following  call  for  a  convention  of 
anti-slavery  Presbyterians;  continuing  it,  for  a  few  weeks,  in  your  paper, 
and  oblige,  Yours,  etc., 

Thomas  E.  Thomas. 

PRESBYTERIAN  ANTI-SLAVERY  CONVENTION. 

An  anti-slavery  convention  of  ministers  and  elders  connected  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  (O.  S.),  will  be  held  in  Hamilton,  Butler 
County,  Ohio,  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  the  17th  and  18th  days  of 
September ;  commencing  at  11  o'clock  on  Tuesday.  The  object  of  the 
convention  is  to  deliberate  upon  the  course  proper  to  be  pursued  in 
relation  to  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  All  our  brethren  in  the  ministry  and  eldership  who  are  opposed 
to  slavery,  and  who  think  some  ecclesiastical  action  against  it  necessary, 
are  earnestly  invited  to  attend. 

Signed:  R.  H.  Bishop,  J.  W.  Scott,  Benj.  Swan,  Win.  S.  Rogers, 
Th.  E.  Thomas,  M.  C.  Williams,  S.  Crothers,  H.  S.  Fullerton. 

Business  committees  of  the  Hamilton  Anti-Slavery  Convention  of 
Ministers  and  Elders: 

1.  To  prepare  a  memorial  to  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  Th.  E.  Thomas, 
S.  Crothers. 

2.  Addresses  to  the  churches  on  the  subject  of  the  views  of  the  con 
vention.     Th.  E.  Thomas,  J.  M.  Stone,  S.  Crothers. 

3.  To  prepare  an   anti-slavery   tract,  relating  to  the   connection  of 
our  church  with  slavery,  etc.    Th.  E.  Thomas,  J.  M.  Stone. 

4.  To  promote  circulation  of  Anti-Slavery  documents.    Jno.  W.  Scott, 
Jno.  S.  Galloway,  S.  Crothers,  Col.  Wm.  Keys,  Jno.  A.  Meeks. 

5.  To   secure  the  establishment   of   an   Anti-Slavery  paper.     Th.   E. 
Thomas,  Jno.  W.  Scott,  S.  Crothers. 

64 


6.  Committee  on  the  circulation  of  memorials.  R.  H.  Bishop,  Wm. 
Gage,  J.  M.  Stone,  H.  S.  Fullerton,  Jno.  S.  Galloway,  Adrian  Aten,  H. 
R.  Price. 

Memorial  of  Anti-Slavery  Ministers  and  Elders  in  the  Synod  of  Cincin 
nati  to  said  Synod,  September  15,  1844- 

To  the  Moderator  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  to  meet  on  the  third 
Thursday  of  September,  1844: 

The  memorial  of  the  undersigned  ministers  and  elders  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church,  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  respect 
fully  showeth; 

That  the  General  Assembly  of  our  church  is  annually  composed,  in 
part,  of  ministers  and  elders  who  hold  their  fellow  men  as  property, 
under  a  system  of  oppression,  which  deprives  them  of  their  personal 
rights,  which  interferes  with  all  the  divinely  constituted  relations,  and 
which  substitutes  the  popish  abomination,  Oral  Instruction,  for  the  means 
of  salvation,  which  God  has  appointed  and  promised  to  bless.  The 
undersigned  therefore  respectfully  pray  that  a  memorial  be  forwarded  to 
the  next  General  Assembly,  earnestly  beseeching  them  to  enjoin  upon  the 
Presbyteries  to  consider,  in  the  appointment  of  Commissioners  to  the 
General  Assembly,  and  in  the  exercise  of  discipline,  that  it  is  the  declared 
faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  that  the  voluntary  enslaving  of  one 
part  of  the  human  family  by  another  is  a  gross  violation  of  the  most 
precious  and  sacred  rights  of  human  nature,  utterly  inconsistent  with 
the  law  of  God,  and  totally  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  and  principles 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Ministers,  R.  H.  Bishop,  Wm.  Dickey,  S.  Crothers,  J.  W.  Scott,  Hugh 
S.  Fullerton,  J.  M.  Stone,  A.  Aten,  Thomas  E.  Thomas,  C.  A.  Hoyt,  J.  A.  I. 
Lowes,  W.  S.  Rogers. 

Elders,  Isaac  Collett,  John  Shepherd,  Benjamin  C.  Swan,  S.  R.  Mol- 
lyneaux,  H.  I.  Curtis,  Geo.  A.  Murray,  Thomas  Burnes,  Thomas  F. 
Purdy,  Thomas  Mitchell. 

TO  THOMAS  E.  THOMAS,  NEW  ALBANY  THEO.  SEM. 

With  messenger  bringing  word  of  Dr.  Bishop's  death;  and  ask 
ing  him  to  preach  his  funeral  sermon. 

College  Hill,  O.,  April  29,  1855. 

Our  dearly  beloved  and  revered  Dr.  Bishop  died  this  morning  about 
five  o'clock.  He  preached  for  us  last  Sabbath  and  was  able  to  complete 
his  discourse  without  faltering;  and  continued  his  duties  in  college  with 
his  classes  with  his  usual  energy  until  Friday.  He  expected  to  resume 
his  recitations  Monday;  but  this  morning,  although  speechless,  yet  all 
serene,  at  peace  with  God  and  with  all  mankind,  he  passed  away,  as  if  he 
had  laid  down  to  sleep. 

On  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Directors  and  of  his  relations  and  friends, 
we  have  dispatched  the  bearer,  a  student  of  the  college,  as  a  messenger 
to  bear  the  sad  tidings  to  you  to  secure  your  presence,  and  to  preach  his 
funeral  sermon,  with  Dr.  Scott,  who  will  officiate  with  you. 

May  18th. 

I  received  your  letter  which  told  of  your  absence  from  home.  I 
regretted  the  providence  which  prevented  you  from  coming.  Since  then, 
Mrs.  Bishop  has  been  called  away;  just  two  weeks  from  the  time  he 
died,  at  the  same  hour  on  Sabbath  morning;  making  her  to  a  day  the 
same  age.  Her  remains  were  enclosed  in  a  strong  metallic-lined  box,  in 
the  same  manner  the  Doctor's  had  been ;  the  mound  was  opened,  and  she 
was  placed  by  his  side. 


Perhaps  you  were  not  aware  that  among  the  items  of  Dr.  Bishop's 
will,  was  one  as  follows : 

"I  give  my  soul  to  the  Redeemer,  as  I  have  often  endeavored  to  do, 
to  be  received  on  the  same  condition  that  the  thief  on  the  cross  was 
received.  I  give  my  body  to  the  Directors  of  Farmer's  College,  to  be 
enclosed  in  a  strong  box,  and  to  be  placed  in  a  mound  of  earth,  to  be 
formed  of  successive  layers  of  sand  and  earth ;  the  mound  to  contain  a 
cubic  quantity  of  earth  at  least  eight  feet  each  way." 

We  were  fulfilling  his  request  in  the  spot  designated,  making  a 
mound  about  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter.  There  is  to  be  no  monument 
of  an  artificial  character  placed  to  designate  the  spot,  permitting  merely 
the  planting  of  an  evergreen  upon  it. 

Thus  has  gone  one  whose  labors  will  not  cease  to  have  an  influence 
for  good,  through  time:  and  so  these  good  old  servants  of  the  Cross, 
after  their  labors  on  earth,  so  ample  and  complete,  are  peacefully  and 
quietly  to  rest  together. 

TO   PROFESSOR  ROBERT   H.    BISHOP,   OXFORD,   OHIO. 

Dr.  Thomas's  beautiful  letter  to  R.  H.  B.  Jr.  on  the  death  of  his 
father. 

New  Albany,  Ind.,  May  2,  1855. 

My  dear  Robert :  I  deeply  regret  that  I  was  prevented  from  at 
tending  the  funeral  services  of  your  dear  and  honored  father; 
honored  of  thousands,  but  doubly  dear  to  me;  for  after  my 
father  and  mother,  he  did  more  for  me  than  any  other  has  done. 
In  accordance  with  a  previous  engagement,  I  had  gone  to 
Indianapolis  on  Saturday,  my  wife  accompanying  me.  We  in 
tended  to  return  on  Monday;  but  an  unexpected  alteration  of 
the  train  table  detained  us;  we  reached  home  on  the  afternoon 
of  Tuesday,  and  then  received  the  message  from  College  Hill. 
Of  course  the  interment  had  taken  place  before  that  time,  and 
I  was  150  miles  distant.  I  need  not  express  my  sorrow  at  the 
disappointment,  nor  say  how  much  gratification  it  would  have 
afforded  me  (a  mournful  pleasure  indeed)  to  be  able  to  add  my 
humble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  one  so  loved,  so  honored,  so 
worthy  of  affection  and  reverence.  But  Providence  has  other 
wise  ordered ;  and  he,  our  sainted  father,  needed  no  tribute  from 
me,  or  from  any  mortal.  His  record  is  on  high;  his  memorial, 
on  earth  too,  abideth  forever.  A  long  life  faithfully  spent  in 
an  illustrious  service  of  his  Divine  Master  has  left  a  thousand 
testimonials  of  his  fidelity,  ability  and  success.  I  would  express 
my  deep  and  tender  sympathy  with  you  and  your  family,  espe 
cially  with  your  honored  and  now  desolate  mother;  but  I  know 
from  recent  experience,  how  vain  are  words  to  express  emotions, 
and  how  utterly  useless  are  phrases  of  condolence  in  allaying 
grief  of  heart.  There  is  but  one  Physician  who  can  heal  heart 
wounds.  He  is  as  near  to  you  and  yours  as  to  me;  and  I  doubt 
not  you  enjoy  His  refreshing  cordials.  You  know  that  God  has 
been  pleased  to  call  home  our  youngest  child,  a  bright  and  beau 
tiful,  and  most  promising  boy  of  almost  three  years.  Many  a 


cherished  hope  of  ours  has  thus  been  crushed  forever!  But  we 
know  Who  gave,  and  Who  has  taken  away;  we  know  that  our 
bud  of  earthly  promise  blooms  now  in  the  Paradise  of  God. 
Ebbie  has  learned  already,  in  the  infant  school  of  that  better  coun 
try,  more  than  his  father  will  ever  learn  on  earth.  And  if  I  cannot 
lament  the  departure  of  one  who  had  just  crossed  the  threshold 
of  time,  shall  I  mourn,  shall  you  mourn,  the  peaceful  exit  of 
him  whose  fourscore  years  had  finished  his  earthly  work,  and 
matured  him  for  the  loftier  service  of  the  upper  sanctuary?  I 
remember  his  parting  words  to  our  class,  (1834) — "When  next 
we  meet,  we  shall  be  roaming  and  praising  in  the  better  country." 
Venerable  father!  may  we  be  so  happy  as  to  realize  the  hope, 
and  meet  thee,  all  meet  thee,  in  thine  home  in  heaven. 

I  shall  be  happy  to  hear  from  you  the  particulars  of  your 
father's  last  days,  so  soon  as  it  may  be  convenient  and  agreeable. 
I  hope,  before  long,  to  be  able  to  pay  you  a  visit.  Till  then, 
accept  the  assurance  of  unabated  and  unalterable  affection 
from 

Your  old  friend, 

Thomas  E.  Thomas. 


67 


Ill 

FROM   REV.   HUGH    S.   FULLERTON. 

The  Deliverance  of  the  Assembly  of  18J/5  on  Slaveholding.    "Why 
— /  can't  stand  it" 

South  Salem,  <X  July  22,  1845. 

The  report  of  our  Assembly  is  unutterably  abominable.  The 
more  I  examine  it,  the  more  offensive  it  seems  to  me.  In  accord 
ance  with  a  resolution  of  our  session,  I  commenced  a  review  of 
it  with  the  design  of  forwarding  it  to  your  Magazine  for  publi 
cation.  The  review  is  written  and  has  been  adopted  by 
session ;  but  it  is  too  long  for  you,  unless  broken  up  into  several 
numbers;  and  it  has  been  delayed  so  long  by  my  sickness  that 
we  have  concluded  to  print  it  at  Greenfield.  As  soon  as  it  is 
done,  I  will  send  you  a  copy.  It  is  the  request  of  the  session 
that  you  would  publish  it;  but  this  matter,  of  course,  we  wish 
to  be  left  to  your  discretion.  Perhaps  you  will  think  best  to 
insert  parts  of  it.  But  my  impression  is  that,  since  you  have 
taken  up  the  matter,  you  had  better  write  on  in  your  own  way. 

Woodrow  don't  like  the  report  of  the  Assembly.  It  is  an 
apology  for  slaveholding.  It  must  indeed  be  a  nauseous  dose 
when  his  pro-slavery  stomach  can't  bear  it.  Rev.  S.  Brown  of 
Zanesville,  preached  a  sermon  a  few  Sabbaths  ago,  in  defense 
of  the  report.  A  friend,  whose  statements  are  fully  to  be  relied 
on,  heard  him.  He  said  over  and  over  that  if  the  relation  was 
from  hell,  the  church  had  no  right  to  interfere  with  it,  for  it 
was  allowed  in  the  church  of  its  King  and  Head.  He  made  a 
new  application  of  one  of  the  Assembly's  principles,  viz :  we  are 
bound  by  a  covenant  engagement  not  to  turn  out  slaveholders. 
It  was  this.  Even  the  state  governments  have  no  right  to  abolish 
slavery.  It  is  a  domestic  institution.  The  governments  were 
formed  on  the  conceded  principle  that  they  had  no  right  to  inter 
fere  with  domestic  arrangements.  To  abolish  slavery  would  be 
to  violate  their  compacts  with  every  slaveholder!  If  the  prin 
ciple  is  correct,  his  reasoning  is  good.  What  sinners  those  states 
are  which  have  abolished  slavery. 

I  feel  as  you  do  on  the  subject  of  secession.  I  have  always 
opposed  it  strongly.  But  if  the  church,  either  by  her  action,  or 
inaction,  sanctions  the  Assembly's  doctrines,  why — why — why  I 
can't  stand  it.  But  let  us  not  be  in  too  great  haste.  Let  us  do 

68 


all  we  can  to  correct  the  sentiment  and  action  of  the  church.  A 
faithful  and  patient  advocacy  of  our  principles  will  at  least  give 
us  friends,  and  extend  our  ranks  if  we  have  to  go.  I  love  our 
church.  It  is  like  death  to  part  with  her.  But  if  she  has  taken 
her  final  stand  on  this  subject,  I  can  say  athe  bitterness  of  death 
is  past." 

Have  you  read  Father  Rice's  essay  called  "Slavery  Incon 
sistent  with  Justice  and  Good  Policy?"  If  not,  you  will  find  it 
in  Rice's  memoirs,  by  Dr.  Bishop.  I  do  wish  we  could  republish 
it.  His  name  is  a  host.  And  it  would  show  that  the  abolition 
ism  of  1792  was  much  like  that  of  1845. 

Rev.  Dr.  Hugh  8.  Fullerton;  his  life;  education;  service;  chil 
dren.  Founded  Salem  Academy,  one  of  the  'best  in  the 
State.  Long  at  Salem,  0.  What  he  built  up  there.  His 
life-long  friendship  for  Dr.  Thomas.  His  anti-slavery  activ 
ity.  Dies  when  his  five  sons  were  in  uniform. 

NOTE.  Rev.  Hugh  S.  Fullerton,  D.  D.,  of  Scotch-Irish  de 
scent,  and  the  second  of  eleven  children  of  Thomas  and  Eliza 
beth  (Stewart)  Fullerton,  was  born  near  Greencastle,  Pa.,  in 
1805.  In  1815  the  family  removed  to  Fayette  County,  Ohio; 
where  Hugh  S.  grew  up  in  the  severe  labor  of  farm  life.  Having 
joined  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Bloomington,  then  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  Rev.  Wm.  Dickey,  he  was  taken  under  the  care 
of  the  Chillicothe  Presbytery  in  preparing  for  the  ministry; 
attended  a  year  at  Ohio  University ;  and  then  began  his  theolog 
ical  studies  under  Dr.  Samuel  Crothers  at  Greenfield,  Ohio.  His 
first  pastorate  was  Union  Church,  four  miles  from  Chillicothe; 
and  while  there  he  was  married  to  Dorothy  B.,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Wm.  Boies.  In  1832,  he  removed  to  Chillicothe;  and,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-seven,  "threw  himself  with  ardor  into  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  then  just  beginning  throughout  the  country."  This 
region  was  largely  settled  by  families  from  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky,  and  among  them  were  large  numbers  of  emancipated 
slaves.  They  had  no  schools  and  scarcely  any  religious  teaching. 
Mr.  Fullerton  obtained  for  them  as  teacher,  a  young  lady  from 
Northern  Ohio,  of  cultivated  mind  and  high  social  position. 
When  her  mission  was  known,  it  was  impossible  to  get  her  a 
place  to  board.  Mr.  Fullerton  then  took  her  into  his  own  house 
hold.  The  ladies  of  his  church  and  neighborhood  took  offense, 
and  sent  a  committee  to  "remonstrate  against  his  harboring  a 
nigger  school-teacher!" 

In  1838,  Rev.  Mr.  F.  accepted  a  call  to  the  Salem  Church, 
Ross  County,  Ohio,  lately  vacated  by  Rev.  Jas.  Dickey,  after  a 
pastorate  of  nearly  thirty  years;  and  here,  and  until  his  death, 
he  spent  twenty-six  years  of  a  laborious  life.  About  500  persons 
were  added  to  this  church  during  his  ministry.  A  large  and 

69 


commodious  place  of  worship  was  erected.  Mr.  Fullerton  found 
ed  the  Salem  Academy,  one  of  the  best  institutions  of  its  kind 
in  the  State.  "It  was  a  vine  of  his  own  planting,  and  to  him  it 
was  a  great  delight  when  he  saw  fruit  ripening  upon  it,  or  when 
the  odor  of  its  bloom  filled  the  neighborhood  with  fragrance." 
More  than  forty  young  men,  studying  for  the  ministry,  were 
under  his  care  as  their  pastor  and  teacher. 

Dr.  Fullerton  was  the  father  of  six  children.  Artemas  T. 
supplies  his  father's  vacant  pulpit;  George  H.,  educated  at 
Salem  Academy,  Miami  University  and  Princteon  Seminary,  was 
Chaplain  of  the  1st  Ohio  Infantry,  which  went  from  Dayton; 
has  been  pastor  at  Lancaster,  Lane  Seminary,  Springfield,  111., 
and  is  now  at  Springfield,  O. ;  another  son,  Thomas,  was  Chap 
lain  of  the  17th  Ohio  Infantry,  has  been  pastor  at  .Walnut  Hills, 
O.,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  in  Wooster  University;  pastor  at  Erie, 
Pa.,  and  is  now  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.  The  younger  sons,  Hugh 
S.,  and  Erskine  B.,  were  officers  in  the  army. 

Among  the  good  fortunes  of  Dr.  Fullerton  was  the  privilege 
of  remaining  long  in  one  spot.  The  energy  and  activities  which 
Dr.  Thomas  scattered  at  Hamilton,  at  Hanover,  in  the  cause 
of  the  Seminaries,  at  Dayton,  and  at  last  at  Lane  Seminary, 
Hugh  S.  Fullerton  concentrated  at  one  place;  and  they  made  a 
household  and  influence  known  and  notable.  Rev.  Dr.  Gal- 
breath  has  described  a  Christmas  dinner  there,  "when  for  some 
time  they  enjoyed,  by  way  of  anticipation,  the  great  bird  which 
the  head  of  the  house  had  skillfully  fed  and  fattened,  parading 
about  with  bearded  breast  and  feathers  glittering  in  the  sun 
light;  with  metallic  shades  of  black,  and  dark  green,  and  deep, 
golden  bronze,  and  head  hooded  with  scarlet."  When  Dr.  Ful 
lerton,  on  Christmas  Eve,  going  out  at  the  head  of  a  little  proces 
sion  of  boys,  took  an  axe  and  took  its  head  off,  his  tender  sensi 
bilities  were  aroused,  and  he  exclaimed,  "Poor  fellow;  we  have 
treated  you  badly!"  "I  don't  know,"  replied  Tom;  "at  least,  in 
his  death  he  has  had  the  benefit  of  the  clergy/' 

Rev.  George  H.  Fullerton  has  written :  "Dr.  Thomas  was  my 
father's  friend,  and  I  was  taught  as  a  little  boy  in  my  home  at 
South  Salem,  to  reverence  him.  The  two  men  sympathized 
deeply  in  their  anti-slavery  sentiments;  and  I  remember  how  my 
father,  returning  from  Synod  or  General  Assembly,  would  tell 
us  with  flashing  eye  of  eloquence  of  Dr.  T.  while  pleading  for 
the  slave,  or  confronting  the  representatives  of  the  slave  power." 

The  two  men  were  much  alike:  they  probably  never  differed 
on  anything,  after  a  few  moments  for  consultation.  To  meet 
Dr.  Fullerton,  but  casually,  was  always,  to  my  father,  a  renewal 
of  inspiration.  Together  they  went  to  the  General  Assembly  at 
Philadelphia,  in  1846,  determined  to  reverse  the  notorious  act 
of  the  preceding  year,  and  wholly  failed.  But  they  did  procure 
the  adoption  of  this  resolution  : 

70 


"Resolved,  that  in  the  judgment  of  this  House,  the  action  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  1845  was  not  intended  to  deny  or  rescind  the  testi 
mony  often  offered  by  the  General  Assemblies  previous  to  that  date." 

(NOTE.  The  act  of  1818  against  slavery  was  reported  by  Dr.  Ashbel 
Green,  Dr.  George  A.  Baxter,  and  Rev.  Dyer  Burgess  who  was  from 
Miami  Presbytery.  The  act  of  1845  bears  the  impress  of  tire  hand  of 
Dr.  Chas.  Hodge,  although  reported  by  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice.  Against  168 
yeas  in  its  favor  were  recorded  thirteen  nays,  who  were :  Stephen  Bliss, 
Jno.  C.  Eastman,  Adam  B.  Gilliland,  James  McKean,  A.  S.  MacMaster, 
Varnum  Noyes,  James  Robertson  and  Jno.  D.  Whethane,  Ministers;  and 
Archibald  Barton,  Hugh  Gaston,  Samuel  E.  Hibben,  Ezekiel  Miller  and 
Matthias  C.  Williams,  Elders.  The  resolution  stated  above  as  obtained 
in  1846  was  of  the  first  importance,  in  that  it  permitted  men  like  Dr. 
Fullerton  to  remain  in  the  church,  and  in  fact  prevented  a  disruption 
on  the  slavery  question.) 

Dr.  Hugh  8.  Fullerton  was  not  permitted  to  see  the  end  of 
the  great  anti-slavery  conflict  in  which  he  had  long  born  so 
efficient  and  honorable  part.  While  all  his  sons  wgre  in  uniform, 
he  passed  away  on  August  17,  1862. 

FROM  REV.  WILLIAM   DICKEY. 

Slavery  in  Tennessee. 

Bloomingburgh,  Ohio,  July  23,  1845. 

Has  the  anti-slavery  cause  injured  the  condition  of  the  slaves? 
Surely  not.  In  my  late  journey  through  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  I  did 
not  see  one  dirty,  ragged  negro.  The  squads  of  little  negroes  which  I 
used  to  see,  naked  as  the  pigs  and  calves  with  which  they  gamboled  in 
the  shade  of  the  same  grove,  were  now  clad  like  human  beings  in  shirt 
and  pants  or  slips,  and  many  of  them  had  straw  hats,  such  as  my  own 
little  boys  put  on :  nor  did  I  see  as  formerly,  boys  and  girls  waiting  at 
the  table,  in  a  state  of  stark  nudity. 

I  was  happy  to  acknowledge  that  a  great  change  had  taken  place 
since  I  was  conversant  about  Nashville  fifty-five  years  ago,  when  negroes 
were  naked  and  ignorant.  I  said  I  was  pleased  to  see  so  much  attention 
paid  to  their  bodies  and  their  minds;  and  I  wished  that  the  people  of 
Tennessee  might  go  far  ahead  of  the  people  of  Ohio  in  good  offices  to  the 
negro.  God  speed  you,  dear  friends,  in  this  work.  But,  said  I.  brethren 
where  does  all  this  come  from?  Where  is  the  root  of  these  efforts  to  im 
prove  the  condition  of  the  slaves?  Will  you  find  it  in  the  South?  Never, 
no  never!  Well,  we  will  have  to  go  North — yes,  three  hunderd  and  sixty 
miles  north,  across  the  big  river,  we  will  find  the  occasion  of  these 
noble  efforts.  It  will  be  found  in  that  despised  association  called  the 
Anti-Slavery  Society.  That  soceity  had  made  some  shocking  disclosures 
respecting  the  degradation  of  the  slaves  in  the  South,  and  you  have 
determined  that  they  shall  not  all  be  true  much  longer.  And  this  thing 
is  not  to  stop  here :  these  people  will  read  on,  and  find,  at  length,  that 
they  are  men.  And  what  then?  And  what  then? 

Yours  in  the  best  of  bonds, 

Wm.  Dickey. 

Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Dickey;  his  life;  sweetness  of  character. 

NOTE.     Rev.  William  Dickey,  or  Father  Dickey,  as  he  was 
commonly  known,  was  the  son  of  Robert  and  Margaret   (Hill- 

71 


house)  Dickey,  and  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  whence,  when 
a  child,  his  father's  family  were  compelled  to  flee  before  Corn- 
wallis's  army,  which  despoiled  his  grandfather's  farm.  Soon 
after,  his  father  emigrated  to  Southern  Kentucky,  where  William 
grew  up,  and  passed  his  first  seventeen  years  as  a  Presbyterian 
minister.  He  removed  to  Fayette  County,  Ohio,  and  in  1817 
organized  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Bloomingburg,  over  which 
he  remained  as  pastor  for  the  next  forty  years.  His,  first  wife 
was  Rebecca  Boss  from  Nashville,  Tenn.,  his  second  wife  was 
Ellen  Ghormly,  of  Greenfield,  Ohio,  and  he  was  the  father 
of  fourteen  children.  One  son,  Rice,  died  at  Miami  University 
while  preparing  for  the  ministry.  He  was  a  brother-in-law  of 
Dr.  Samuel  Crothers,  and  a  half-brother  of  Rev.  Dr.  James  H. 
Dickey.  He  was  buried  on  his  83rd  birth-day,  December  6,  1857. 

Dr.  Crothers  said  "he  never  knew  any  other  man  of  whom 
so  many  anecdotes  would  be  remembered.  He  went  to  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  *at  Philadelphia,  in  a  suit  of  homespun ;  and  being 
invited  to  preach  to  a  large  city  congregation  was  stopped  at  the 
pulpit  entrance  by  the  sexton,  who  said,  'Only  ministers  are 
allowed  to  go  up  there !'  " 

His  sermons  were  peculiar ;  but  at  times  would  burn  and 
flame  up  into  almost  inspired  speech.  Dr.  Galbraith  writes: 
"He  was  a  modest  man,  easily  touched,  of  most  tender  sensibili 
ties.  It  was  not,  however,  always  safe  to  presume  too  much  on 
his  forbearance.  When  he  was  old  and  feeble,  he  preached  once 
in  a  church  that  had  a  choir  in  the  gallery,  that  sang  with  art 
and  skill,  and  was  accompanied  or  led  by  instruments  of  music. 
He  announced  and  read  a  long  hymn  for  the  first  one,  and  the 
choir  took  the  liberty  of  singing  only  a  part  of  it.  For  the  second 
hymn,  he  chose  one  that  had  but  two  verses,  of  four  lines  each; 
deliberately  and  reverently  he  read  it,  and  then  lifted  that  great 
face  and  turned  his  innocent  eyes  up  toward  the  choir,  and  with 
voice  soft  as  velvet,  said :  'The  choir  will  please  sing  all  of  this/  " 

Like  Gilliland,  at  Red  Oak;  and  Rankin,  at  Ripley;  and 
Crothers,  at  Greenfield;  and  Fullerton,  at  Salem,  and  Steele,  at 
Hillsboro,  William  Dickey  made  his  own  home,  and  congregation 
and  community;  and  to  them  and  for  them  he  spoke  as  he 
pleased;  and  like  each  of  these  men  he  was  an  early  and  staunch 
pillar  of  Presbyterian  Abolitionism. — A.  A.  T. 


FROM  REV.  DR.  SAMUEL  CROTHERS. 

The  Assembly  of  1845  on  Slavery. 

I  received  last  week  yours  of  the  6th  instant.  I  was  anxiously 
looking  for  it;  and  I  have  so  many  things  to  say  in  reply  that  I 
scarcely  know  where  to  begin.  As  regards  contribution  for  Magazine, 
it  is  probable  that  most  of  the  brethren,  like  myself,  were  not  aware  that 

72 


the  editor  desired  them.  After  the  appearanc  of  the  forthcoming  number, 
I  shall  endeavor  to  furnish  something  on  the  compromising  spirit  of 
slaveholding  Christianity  as  exhibited  in  the  Assembly's  decision.  I  was 
surprised  by  that  decision.  But  I  do  rejoice  they  have  come  out  honestly 
with  their  principles.  Everybody  now  knows  where  they  stand ;  and  I 
should  as  soon  expect  a  community  of  black-legs  to  maintain  a  respectable 
standing  during  the  milleniuin  as  an  ecclesiastical  body  to  flourish  after 
such  a  shameful  avowal  of  proslavery  principles,  under  the  light  that  is 
now  shining  around  them. 

My  own  opinion  decidedly  is  that  we,  in  this  region,  will  be  better 
off  by  sending  no  further  commissioners  to  the  General  Assembly.  At 
the  same  time,  perhaps  your  Presbytery  ought  to  pursue  the  course  that 
you  suggest.  Perhaps  diversity  of  sentiment  and  position  in  this  matter 
will  have  a  better  influence  than  entire  unanimity. 

Fullerton  writes  well.  If  you  suggest  it  to  him,  he  will  contribute 
something  to  the  Magazine  worth  reading. 

TO  ADAMS  JEWETT,  M.  D. 

Will  lecture  in  Dayton,  on  the  "Biblical  View  of  Slavery." 

Rossville,  20  August,  1845. 

As  to  your  proposal  to  visit  Dayton  and  deliver  a  lecture  or 
two  on  the  Biblical  View  of  Slavery,  it  would  highly  gratify 
me  to  be  able  to  comply  with  your  wishes.  I  shall  address  a 
convention  at  Ripley  on  the  26th  and  27th.  On  the  30th,  I 
shall  probably  be  at  Xenia;  though  I  am  not  yet  informed  of  the 
time  for  their  anniversary  of  the  County  Society.  After  that,  I 
shall  be  able,  should  nothing  unforseen  prevent,  to  find  leisure 
for  spending  a  few  days  at  Dayton. 

FROM  REV.  HUGH  S.  FULLERTON,  D.  D. 

Going  to  the  Assembly  in  Philadelphia. 

Near  Greenfield,  O.,  December  11,  1845. 
Dear  Brother:  I  hoped  to  meet  you  at  Synod,  but  could 
not  leave  home  at  the  time  of  the  meeting.  I  am  glad  to  hear 
that  you  have  had  a  pleasant  session;  and  to  find  that  you  feel 
encouraged.  I  try  hard  to  feel  so  myself,  and  sometimes  succeed 
for  a  little  while;  but  alas!  the  very  next  wave  goes  over  me. 
If  our  brethren  who  oppose  us  on  the  slave  question  would  have 
the  magnanimity  to  acknowledge  the  pro-slaveryism  of  the  As 
sembly's  report,  I  would  think  we  had  grounds  of  hope.  But 
when  I  see  them  attempting  to  patch  up  its  filthy  rags,  and 
sprinkle  sweet  odors  its  stench,  smelling  rank  to  heaven,  I  feel 
cast  down.  But  after  all  there  is  one  cheering  fact.  They  are 
evidently  ashamed  of  its  plain  meaning.  And  yet,  I  almost  de 
spair  of  the  next  Assembly's  doing  anything  to  correct  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  last.  The  slaveholders  feel  that  they  have 
achieved  a  triumph,  and  they  know  how  to  profit  by  it.  I  have 
conversed  with  two  men  who  have  been  in  different  slave  states 

73 


since  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly ;  they  both  assure  me  that  the 
thing  pleases  slaveholders  extremely  well.  And  from  all  I  can 
learn  from  the  South,  I  believe  the  report  is  understood  there  just 
as  abolitionists  in  the  North  have  understood  it,  and  that  it  was 
intended  by  many  members  of  the  Assembly  to  be  a  repeal  of  our 
former  testimonies  against  slavery.  Perhaps  I  look  on  the  dark 
side,  and  may  be  mistaken.  Time  will  determine. 

If  I  understand  Rice  &  Co.,  they  have  changed  their  ground. 
All  they  defend  now  is  simply  the  legal  relation,  and  that  only 
until  it  can  be  destroyed  with  safety  to  the  slave.  This  I  believe 
to  be  the  ground  that  will  hereafter  be  taken  pretty  generally  at 
the  North.  But  my  fear  is  that  they  are  taking*  it  merely  to 
avoid  odium  and  the  force  of  our  arguments,  and  not  with  the 
view  of  taking  any  efficient  action  for  the  purpose  of  purging  the 
church  of  slavery  by  the  exercise  of  discipline  upon  those  who 
"persist  in  maintaining  and  justifying  it." 

I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  expect  to  be  sent  to  the  next 
Assembly.  I  have  been  nominated  as  the  delegate  from  our 
Presbytery.  I  look  forward  to  the  meeting  with  great  anxiety. 
If  the  Assembly,  either  by  action  or  inaction,  should  ratify  the 
proceedings  of  the  last,  our  churches  will  go. 

Truly  your  brother, 

Hugh  S.  FuUerton. 


Who   controlled  Assembly  of  '^5  on  its   Slavery  Deliverance? 

NOTE.  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Thornwell  of  South  Carolina,  a  dele 
gate  to  this  assembly,  wrote  to  his  wife : 

Cincinnati,  May  19.  1845. 

"The  question  of  slavery  has  been  before  the  house,  and  referred 
to  a  special  committee  of  seven.  Though  not  a  member  of  the  committee, 
I  have  been  consulted  on  the  subject,  and  have  drawn  up  a  paper,  which 
I  think  the  committee  and  the  Assembly  will  substantially  adopt;  and 
if  they  do,  abolitionism  will  be  killed  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at 
least  for  the  present.  I  have  no  doubts  but  that  the  Assembly,  by  a  very 
large  majority,  will  declare  slavery  not  to  be  sinful;  will  assert  that  it 
is  sanctioned  by  the  Word  of  God;  that  it  is  purely  a  civil  relation,  with 
which  the  church,  as  such,  has  no  right  to  interfere;  and  that  abolition 
ism  is  essentially  wicked,  disorganizing  and  ruinous.  I  feel  perfectly 
satisfied  that  this  is  the  stand  which  the  Assembly  will  take.  The 
southern  members  have  invited  discussion,  and  they  will  triumphantly 
gain  the  day.  It  will  be  a  great  matter  to  put  the  agitations  on  slavery 
at  rest,  and  to  save  the  church  from  dismemberment  and  schism ;  and 
particularly  to  do  it  here,  in  the  stronghold  of  abolitionism." 

"P.  S.  The  committee  did  not  adopt  my  report  fully  on  slavery,  but 
will  bring  in  one  that  takes  nearly  the  same  position ;  one  which  vindi 
cates  the  South,  and  will  put  the  question  at  rest."  * 

*  Life  of  Thornwell,  by  Palmer,  page  286. 

74 


FROM  HON.  JOHN  WOODS,  AUDITOR  OF  OHIO. 

One  effect  of  Dr.  Junkin's   argument.     Who   John   Woods   of 
Hamilton  was. 

Columbus,   October   18,   1845. 

My  dear  Sir:  I  have  received  and  glanced  over  the  six  numbers  of 
your  magazine.  The  mechanical  work  is  not  well  executed.  This  always 
detracts  from  the  pleasure  of  reading  a  book. 

I  trust  that  you  will  go  on  your  way  prospering.  There  is  a  great 
necessity  for  waking  up  the  churches  upon  the  subject  of  slavery.  I 
confess  I  am  astonished  at  the  death-like  stupor  which  has  come  over 
Christians  on  this  subject,  especially  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  light 
and  liberty.  The  doctrine  and  preaching  of  such  men  as  Junkin  and 
Rice  will  do  more  to  spread,  to  sow  broad-cast,  to  give  root  and  strength 
to  bold  infidelity  and  a  disbelief  in  the  Word  of  God  than  all  the  argu 
ments  that  ever  were  advanced  in  the  name  of  infidelity  by  her  avowed 
disciples. 

Does  not  every  man  know  in  this  intelligent  age, — it  is  not  necessary 
to  argue  the  subject, — there  is  a  monitor  in  his  breast  which  makes  him 
feel  that  slavery  is  a  monstrous  evil ;  that  the  system  which  countenances, 
permits,  tolerates  it, — use  what  soft  word  you  will, — is  false,  and  at  war 
with  moral  truth  and  natural  right.  If  the  church  does  not  see  and  feel 
this,  the  world  will.  If  the  Bible  does  not  condemn  this  system,  the 
Bible  is  not  true  and  does  not  contain  a  pure  and  holy  law  given  to  man 
by  his  Creator.  This  will  be  the  judgment  of  those  who  see  and  know 
and  feel  the  degrading,  corrupting  influences  of  the  system.  Who  has 
read  Junkin's  arguments,  and  such  as  his,  to  prove  that  the  Bible 
"tolerates"  slavery,  that  did  not  feel  the  whole  force  and  weight  of  their 
arguments — if  force  and  weight  they  had — to  bear  directly  against  the 
Bible  and  Christianity. 

You  cannot  convince  men  that  slavery  is  right ;  there  is  too  much 
moral  light  in  the  world  for  that;  but  you  may  succeed  in  making  many 
doubt  whether  the  Bible  itself  is  true.  And  this  is  the  work  which 
these  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  performing.  This  truth  is  laid  upon 
the  human  heart  by  the  impress  of  Heaven,  that  he  who  holds  his  fel 
low-man  as  a  slave  is  guilty  of  a  wrong;  and  he  who  attempts  to  falsify 
this  truth  by  an  appeal  to  the  Bible,  attempts  to  prove  that  the  Bible 
is  not  the  Word  of  God. 

If  the  church, — all  the  true  churches, — had  stood  united  upon  the 
right  side,  the  moral  force  thus  retained  would  have  been  great.  But  her 
voice  is  no  longer  heard.  She  has  been  disarmed,  and  her  valiant  men, 
many  of  them,  have  been  taken  captive. 

NOTE.  Hon.  John  Woods  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1794, 
and  was  of  Scotch-Irish  stock.  He  came,  when  a  child,  with  his 
parents  to  Warren  County,  Ohio;  and  as  a  practicing  lawyer, 
throughout  his  life,  he  lived  and  died  at  Hamilton,  Ohio.  He  was 
in  Congress  from  1825  to  1829;  then  edited  and  published  "The 
Hamilton  Intelligencer:"  from  1845  to  1851  he  was  Auditor  of 
State,  and  is  said  to  have  left  'an  indelible  mark  on  the  policy 
and  history  of  Ohio/  He  was  a  man  of  intense  and  restless 
energy:  he  died  in  1855,  aged  61. 

FROM  REV.  R.  H.  BISHOP,  D.  D. 

Thinks  the  Lord  is  kind  to  him. 

Pleasant  Hill,  January  11,  1&46. 
My  dear  Friend:     I  consider  it  my  duty  and  privilege  to  say  to  you 

75 


that  the  Lord  is  exceedingly  kind  to  me.  Our  new  enterprise  has  suc 
ceeded  thus  far  well,  and  is  in  everything  as  promising  as  could  have 
been  desired,  or  at  least  expected. 

As  to  myself,  I  have  a  Bible  recitation  every  day  in  which  I  get  some 
new  views  of  Scripture  history  and  Scripture  doctrine  almost  daily.  The 
young  men  also  are  generally  attentive  and  appear  contented.  And  indeed  I 
never,  in  any  former  period  of  my  life,  have  been  connected  with  as 
many  promising  young  men  as  now  are  in  attendance  here. 

I  hope  you  continue  to  remember  us  in  your  best  devotional  hours. 
The  communion  and  influence  of  saints  can  in  this  way  be  enjoyed  to 
any  extent;  can  be  carried  all  round  the  globe,  and  into  every  class 
of  society. 

I  hope  the  Lord  will  continue  also  to  direct  and  support  and  pros 
per  you  in  every  portion  of  the  great  and  good  work  in  which  you  are 
engaged.  The  time  to  favor  Zion,  even  the  set  time  is  certainly  near  at 
hand :  our  King  is  preparing  His  instrument,  His  great  conquering  army ; 
and  happy  will  the  young  man  be,  or  that  man  in  middle  life,  who  shall 
rightly  understand  the  nature  of  that  warfare,  and  the  right  use  of  the 
proper  means  which  must  be  and  which  shall  be  used. 

I  was  pleased  to  see  your  name  on  the  sy nodical  committee  respect 
ing  the  proposed  college.  I  hope  you  will  not  be  an  inactive  or  inefficient 
member  of  that  committee.  Whatever  may  be  the  final  conclusion,  the 
whole  subject  ought  now  to  be  fully  and  openly,  for  some  months,  atten 
tively  considered.  I  hope  you  will  be  able  also  to  make  your  arrange 
ments  so  as  to  be  with  us  here,  a  few  days,  at  the  close  of  our  session. 

Sincerely  yours, 

R.  H.  Bishop. 

FROM  REV.   HUGH    S.   FULLERTON. 

A  new  religious  paper  needed. 

South  Salem,  Ohio,  March  1,  1847. 

I  am  very  glad  to  find  from  your  letter  that  the  idea  of  a 
new  paper  has  not  been  abandoned.  I  was  afraid  that  Rice  and 
Wilson  would  make  the  Presbyterian  of  the  West  so  strong  that 
it  would  be  vain  to  attempt  the  starting  of  another  paper  in  our 
region.  Two  or  three  numbers  that  fell  into  my  hands  last  week, 
allayed  this  fear.  I  find  that  it  is  a  dry  concern ;  and  that  it 
holds  on  in  its  old  course.  I  am  much  pleased  with  your  views 
of  what  our  paper  ought  to  be.  Ever  since  our  meeting  of  Synod 
in  Springfield,  in  the  Fall  of  '41,  I  have  insisted  on  it  that  we 
abolitionists  have  done  our  cause  an  injury  by  confining  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  slave  question  to  one  single  point — the  sinfulness 
of  the  relation  itself.  I  feel  more  than  ever  convinced  that  on 
this  point  we  are  right;  that  William  Pitt  spake  nothing  but  the 
truth  when  he  said  "slavery  is  incurable  injustice."  At  the  same 
time,  I  believe  with  Chalmers  that  there  are  many  other  points 
from  which  slavery  may  be  successfully  and  triumphantly  at 
tacked.  And  I  am  persuaded  that  if  we  could  bring  to  bear  upon 
the  public  mind  fact  and  principles  apart  from  the  truth  that 
the  relation  is  essentially  sinful,  slavery  might  be  overthrown; 
or,  at  least,  that  the  mind  might  be  prepared  for  the  ultimate  re 
ception  of  this  doctrine.  Paul  fed  Christians  at  Corinth 

76 


with  milk  and  not  with  meat  because  they  were  not  able  to  bear 
it,  being  babes.  We  have  taken  a  different  course.  Although 
called  on  to  administer  to  the  wants  of  a  community  of  babes, 
as  far  as  this  question  is  concerned,  we  have  discarded  to  a  great 
degree,  the  use  of  milk.  We  have  placed  before  them  the  whole 
tub  full  of  meat,  and  have  required  them  to  eat  it  at  once  or  else 
to  suffer  themselves  to  be  denounced  as  the  enemies  of  that  which 
is  good.  Thus  we  have  been  neither  as  wise  as  serpents  nor  as 
"harmless"  as  a  dove.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the 
essential  sinfulness  of  slavery  should  be  kept  out  of  view  in  any 
paper  we  may  conduct;  but  what  I  mean  to  say  is  this,  while 
slavery  should  not  be  the  prominent  thing  in  a  religious  paper, 
the  sinfulness  of  the  thing  itself  should  not  be  the  exclusive, 
or  even  prominent  topic  in  our  discussion  of  this  question.  But, 
brother,  I  desire  such  a  paper  as  you  propose,  not  only  for  the 
sake  of  the  anti-abolitionists,  but  also  for  the  abolitionists  them 
selves.  The  most  of  them  have  become  disgusted  with  our  relig 
ious  papers,  and  have  ceased  taking  them.  The  consequence  is 
that  they  read  no  papers  but  those  devoted  exclusively  to  the 
slave  question.  This  is  very  unfavorable  to  the  development  of 
Christian  character.  It  unavoidably  leads  to  ultraism  on  this 
one  point.  This  one  thing  absorbs  the  mind  and  heart,  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  things  necessary  to  their  usefulness  and 
growth  in  grace.  If  religious  papers  conducted  on  proper  prin 
ciples  had  been  circulated  through  the  religious  community, 
secession  would  not  have  been  talked  of,  much  less  resorted  to, 
and  we  would  be  spared  the  pain  of  witnessing  those  scenes  of 
fanaticism  and  apostacy  which  have  disgraced  not  only  the  anti- 
slavery  cause,  but  also  the  cause  of  our  common  Christianity. 

"My  heart  breaketh  for  the  longing  it  hath"  for  such  a 
paper  as  you  propose.  I  verily  believe  that  nothing  will  be  so 
well  calculated,  under  God,  to  save  our  church  from  the  sin  of 
slavery,  and  from  the  judgments  of  heaven.  Silver  and  gold  have 
I  none,  but  such  as  I  have  shall  be  freely  given  to  its  support. 
Whenever  it  is  thought  desirable  to  make  the  effort,  I  will  devote 
all  the  time  I  can  possibly  spare  to  the  furtherance  of  the  project. 
It  will  meet  with  much  favor  in  this  region.  Give  my  kind 
regards  to  your  family. 

Truly  your  brother, 

H.    S.   FULLERTON. 


P.  S. — It  seems  to  me  that  we  should  leave  no  lawful  effort  untried, 
which  might  redeem  the  Presbyterian  Church  from  the  foul  reproach  cast 
upon  it  by  the  last  General  Assembly.  I  cannot  believe  the  Presbyterian 
Church  was  organized  on  a  compromise  with  slaveholders ;  nor  can  I  be 
lieve  that  our  Lord  and  his  Apostles  held  fellowship  with  them.  I  believe 
both  were  slandered  by  the  last  Assembly. 

77 


Rev.  Dr.  Jas.  H.  Dickey,  -father  of  Gen.  T.  Lyle  Dickey  of  Illinois. 
Sketch  of  his  life  and  anti-slavery  service  at  Ripley,  0. 

NOTE.  Rev.  James  H.  Dickey,  born  in  Virginia,  in  1780,  was 
a  half  brother  of  Rev.  Win.  Dickey,  afterwards  long  of  Blooming- 
burgh,  O.;  and  was  the  son  of  Robert  and  Mary  Henry  Dickey, 
who,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  removed  from  South 
Carolina  to  Gerrard  Co.,  Ky. 

As  he  grew  to  manhood,  James  H.  had  meagre  opportunities 
for  education,  but  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1808.  He  spent  some 
years  travelling  as  a  domestic  missionary  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
Ohio,  and  Indiana.  He  married  Mary  Depew  who  lived  near 
Paris.  Ky.,  and  whose  sister  married  Dr.  Samuel  Crothers,  of 
Greenfield,  O.;  and  in  1810  became  settled  as  pastor  over  the 
"congregation  of  Buckskin,"  afterwards  South  Salem,  Ohio.  In 
charge  of  this  church  and  a  member  of  the  famous  Chillicothe 
Presbytery,  he  remained  for  the  next  twenty-six  years.  In  1837, 
he  removed  to  and  became  pastor  of  the  church  at  Union  Grove, 
Putnam  Co.,  Illinois,  in  the  Peoria  Presbytery.  Here  he  con 
tinued  to  preach  for  the  next  sixteen  years.  In  1856,  when  sev 
enty-six  years  old,  "as  a  man  goes  to  sleep,"  he  passed  away. 

T.  Lyle  Dickey,  of  Ottawa,  a  distinguished  officer  on  the 
staff  of  Gen.  Grant,  and  subsequently  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois,  was  his  son :  a  daughter  is  the  wife  of  Rev. 
Samuel  M.  Templeton,  of  Delavan,  111.  The  late  Jno.  M.  Dickey, 
of  Indiana,  was  his  cousin ;  Judge  Alfred  S.  Dickey,  of  South 
Salem,  O.,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Claudius  B.  H.  Martin,  nephews. 

Born  a  southerner,  and  reared  in  a  slave  state,  James  H. 
Dickey  preached  against  slavery  while  yet  in  Kentucky ;  set  free 
the  slaves  who  fell  to  himself  and  his  wife  by  inheritance,  and 
was  one  of  the  earliest,  most  influential,  and  active  of  Presby 
terian  Ohio  abolitionists;  indeed,  as  an  anti-slavery  man,  he  was 
known  throughout  the  country.  No  man  did  more  in  the  early 
organization  of  abolition  sentiment.  In  the  contest  that  arose 
in  the  church  over  the  biblical  sanction  of  slavery,  he  was  fore 
most  in  the  field.  One  of  the  curious  books  of  abolition  literature 
is  "A  Review  of  a  Summary  of  Biblical  Antiquities,  compiled 
for  the  use  of  Sabbath  School  Teachers,  by  Jas.  H.  Dickey,  Pastor 
of  the  Church  at  Salem.  Ripley.  Published  by  the  Abolition 
Society  of  Paint  Valley,  1834."  I  quote  the  following  from  its 
pages. — A.  A.  T. 

"That  slavery  is  an  evil  grievous  to  be  borne,  is  everywhere  allowed. 
That  to  hold  a  fellow  creature  in  bondage  is  cruel  and  unjust,  is  generally 
admitted.  And  yet  I  know  of  no  sin  so  generally  pleaded  for,  and  by 
such  able  advocates.  The  philosopher,  the  moralist,  the  politician,  the 
historian,  the  archaeologist,  the  commentator,  the  theologian,  the  humble 
writer  for  the  Sabbath  school,  all,  all  are  laid  under  contribution  to 
furnish  something  to  the  slaveholder  to  enable  him  to  parry  the  thrusts 
of  conscience,  and  evade  the  claims  of  right.  One  discovers  that  right 

78 


and  wrong  has  nothing  to  do  with  settling  the  order  of  society,  and 
establishing  the  relations  of  life ;  but  only  with  duties  pertaining  to 
relations  previously  established.  Another  has  guessed  that  claims 
founded  on  usurpation  and  injustice,  become  good  and  valid  only  by 
being  long  persisted  in.  A  third  has  found  out  that  the  Patriarchs  and 
especially  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God,  were  slaveholders.  And  they 
were  very  good  men.  A  fourth  has  found  out  that  God,  in  the  law  which 
he  gave  to  Moses,  permitted  the  Jews  to  put  away  their  wives ;  a  thing 
that  was  wrong;  because  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts.  And  hence 
assuredly  gather  that  the  good  Lord  will  grant  slaveholders  a  little 
indulgence ;  and  permit  them,  because  their  hearts  also  are  hard  to 
hold  their  slaves  and  live  on  the  gains  of  oppression.  A  fifth  class  prove 
from  the  very  silence  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  that  slaveholding, 
though  a  sin,  and  manifestly  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  is 
nevertheless  a  privileged  sin,  which  must  not  be  reproved  unless  it  is 
done  in  general  terms ;  and  that  very  prudently,  and  so  as  not  to  disturb 
the  conscience  of  anyone.  There  is  not  another  sin  in  all  the  black 
catalogue  of  transgressions  which  has  so  many  and  so  able  advocates." 

FROM  REV.  JOHN  M.  STEVENSON,  D.  D. 

Difficulties  of  a  new  paper. 

Cincinnati,  March  31,  1847. 

I  need  not  say  to  you  that  I  am  deeply  interested  in  the  project  of 
a  new  paper ;  although  I  have  had  little  opportunity  to  show  that  interest. 
It  has  scarcely  been  out  of  my  mind  a  half  day  since  I  saw  you ;  and, 
among  some  encouraging  thoughts,  many  doubts  and  difficulties  have 
obtruded  themselves.  Let  me  state  some  of  them,  with  the  hope  that  it 
will  only  tend  to  start  us  securely  when  we  do  get  under  way. 

1st.  Of  that  mad  dog  cry  "Abolition".  Now  my  dear  brother,  I 
know  you  won't  judge  me  for  sympathizing  in  it;  but  I  know  of  its 
existence,  too  sadly  ubiquitous.  Your  prominent  and  successful  conflict 
with  Dr.  Junkin  has  made  your  name, — may  I  say  it  without  flattery, — 
widely  known.  And  yet  there  are  some  things  in  said  "Review",  and 
in  your  written  and  spoken  sentiments  since ;  especially  the  transactions 
of  a  Convention  at  Pittsburg  last  Spring,  that  can  be,  and  will  be 
brought  out  against  you  and  the  paper,  if  you  stand  as  the  editor  in  the 
outset.  Don't  you  think  so?  If  aye,  what  can  be  done  to  avoid  the 
difficulty? 

NOTE.  Rev.  John  M.  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  1812; 
attended  Miami  University  in  1832,  and  was  graduated  at  Jef 
ferson  College  in  1836.  He  attended  Lane  Seminary  and  was  a 
tutor  in  Kenyon  College ;  and,  in  1841,  was  professor  of  Greek  in 
Ohio  University.  In  1841,  he  became  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Troy,  Ohio;  and  then  was  general  agent  in  the  west 
for  the  American  Tract  Society.  In  1849,  he  became  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  Albany,  Ind.,  whence  he  was 
called  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Tract  Society  in  New  York  City, 
which  position  he  has  filled  for  thirty-four  years,  and  in  which 
city  he  still  resides.  Of  his  children,  a  daughter,  Kosa,  is  the 
wife  of  President  Patton  of  Princeton  College. 

During  the  period  covered  by  this  correspondence,  and  more 
especially  from  1840  to  1860,  few  men  were  more  actively  useful. 

79 


or,  indeed,  influential  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  West 
than  John  M.  Stevenson.  Always  a  firm  and  outspoken  anti- 
slavery  man,  he  had  a  practical  business  sagacity,  which  his 
friends,  Drs.  MacMaster  and  Thomas,  greatly  needed  in  the  tasks 
they  undertook,  and  which  was  always  recognized  among  the 
trustees  of  Miami  University,  of  Hanover  College  and  of  New 
Albany  Theological  Seminary.  He  deserves  an  honored  place 
among  Ohio  Presbyterian  Abolitionists. — A.  A.  T. 

FROM   REV.   D.  K.   MCDONALD,   EDITOR   OF   THE   PRESBYTERIAN 

OF  THE  WEST. 

Cannot  discuss  slavery  in  Ms  paper.  Abolitionists  "cannot  ride 
into  society  in  his  most  genteel  company". 

Cincinnati,   May  5,   1846. 
Bro.  Thomas : 

I  received  your  letter  of  the  28th  April,  making  some  inquiries,  in 
a  confidential  way,  as  to  my  views  of  the  necessity  and  propriety  of 
discussing  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  religious  papers  of  our  church ; 
and  whether  I  thought  the  Presbyterian  of  the  West  could  be  pur 
chased  for  that  object. 

My  opinion  is  that  our  religious  newspapers  act  wisely  in  leaving 
the  subject  of  slavery  to  be  discussed  in  other  ways,  and  through  other 
mediums.  This  being  my  view,  I  would  of  course  oppose  the  sale  of 
this  paper  for  the  purpose  of  making  it  a  public  combatant  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  in  our  church;  and  thus  turn  it  from  its  original  and 
present  design  of  being  a  peaceful  and  useful  messenger  to  our  people, 
without  embroiling  them  in  continual  strife  with  each  other.  I  sincerely 
hope  that  the  great  body  of  those  in  our  church  who  long  to  see  our  Zion 
arise  and  shine,  and  the  cause  of  God  abundantly  prospering  among  us, 
desire  to  see  the  paper  move  forward  in  neutral,  quiet,  wise  course  on 
this  subject  which  it  has  hitherto  pursued,  without  entering  into  the 
merits  of  the  question  pro  or  con.  If  the  parties  to  either  side  of  this 
question  wish  to  discuss  it  through  the  public  prints,  the  way  is  open  to 
them  to  establish  periodicals  for  that  purpose,  to  advocate  and  extend 
their  peculiar  views.  Surely  a  paper  established  and  sustained  upon 
known  principles,  will  not  turn  aside  from  those  principles  to  take  up  the 
hobby  of  every  individual  that  might  wish  to  ride  into  society  in  the 
most  genteel  company,  to  agitate,  distract  and  divide.  *  *  * 

If  you  have  special  messages  to  the  people;  if  you  wish  to  enlighten 
them  with  your  peculiar  views,  you  must  find  some  other  messenger 
than  the  Presbyterian  of  the  West. 

Who  most  genteel  and  influential  Presbyterian  company  urns 
in  Cincinnati  in  1846.  Rev.  Josh  L.  Wilson;  his  son  Rev. 
Dr.  Saml.  R.  Wilson  et  al.  Sketch  of  their  lives  and  influ 
ence.  One  man's  protest.  Who  was  hef 

NOTE.  The  Presbyterian  paper  in  Cincinnati  was  now  under 
the  influence  of  Dr.  J.  L.  Wilson  and  his  son.  Rev.  Joshua  L. 
Wilson,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Va.,  in  1774.  His 
father,  a  physician,  dying  when  the  son  was  four  years  old,  his 
mother  removed  to  Kentucky,  where,  until  he  was  twenty-two 

80 


years  old,  he  received  only  such  education  as  she  herself  could 
give  him.  He  then  studied  under  Rev.  James  Vance,  in  whose 
school  near  Louisville  he  also  taught.  He  became  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Bardstown,  Ky.,  and  in  1808,  removed  to  Cincinnati, 
where  he  became  and  remained  for  the  next  thirty-eight  years, 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  Dr.  Wilson  was  a  man 
often  likened  to  Andrew  Jackson;  of  intense  character;  marked 
ability  and  a  great  controversialist.  In  1835,  he  led  the  prose 
cution  of  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  for  heresy;  and  he  was  the 
most  active  minister  in  the  West  in  forcing  the  disruption  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  took  place  in  1838.  He  took  a 
prominent  part  in  public  affairs,  and  published  many  volumes  of 
sermons  and  addresses,  chiefly  controversial.  One  of  his  sons, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Sam'l  R.  Wilson,  followed  his  father  in  the  pastorate 
of  the  First  Church  in  Cincinnati;  was  perhaps  of  even  more 
ability,  activity,  and  influence  in  the  Presbyterian  organization 
than  his  father,  and  was  probably  the  most  decided  pro-slavery 
man  in  that  church  in  the  North,  if  he  may  fairly  be  said  to  have 
been  of  the  North.  Although  the  anti-slavery  cause  had  not  made 
much  headway  until  Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson  had  passed  the  prime 
of  his  life  and  activity,  he  was  for  nearly  forty  years,  within  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  a  stout  champion  of  the  cause  of  American 
slavery,  and  on  free  soil.  He  always  preached  biblical  sanction 
for  human  slavery  as  it  existed  in  this  country.  We  quote  from 
a  discourse  delivered  in  Cincinnati  in  1839,  on  "Relation  and 
Duties  of  Servants  and  Masters" : 

I 

NOTE.     To  the  discourse  of  Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson  I  shall  take 
the  responsibility  of  giving  this  title 

PRESBYTERIANISM  IN  ITS  DEGRADATION 

"After  the  destruction  of  the  old  world  and  the  release  of 
Noah  and  his  family  from  the  ark,  we  have  a  short,  but  mournful 
account  of  a  transaction  which  has  left  a  blot  upon  the  character 
of  the  patriarch  and  stampt  upon  a  portion  of  his  posterity  the 
seal  of  degradation.  *  *  *  *  Noah  became  a  husbandman,  plant 
ed  a  vineyard,  and  in  process  of  time  became  intoxicated,  by 
drinking  wine.  Ham,  one  of  his  sons,  the  father  of  Canaan,  wick 
edly  exposed  his  father's  shame  to  his  brethren,  Shem  and  Jap 
heth.  They,  with  filial  affection  and  respect,  in  the  most  delicate 
manner,  protected  their  venerable  parent  from  further  mockery, 
and  administered  a  merited  rebuke  to  their  depraved  brother. 
But  God  who  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning;  who  saw  that  this 
was  only  the  prelude  to  a  course  of  wickedness  in  the  family  of 
Ham ;  who  claims  the  right  of  punishing  sin  in  whatever  way  he 
will;  who  visits  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children 

81 


down  to  the  generations  of  them  that  hate  him;  determined  to 
punish  the  descendants  of  Ham,  under  his  providential  govern 
ment,  by  making  them  servants  to  their  brethren.  Accordingly 
he  inspired  Noah  to  pronounce  the  curse  of  servitude,  not  upon 
Ham  personally,  but  upon  his  posterity.  *  *  *  Wherever  this 
curse  fell,  and  whenever  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled,  then  and 
there,  under  the  providential  government  of  God,  was  the  rela 
tion  between  servants  and  masters  formed.  If  men  can  forfeit 
their  lives  by  sin,  they  can  also  forfeit  their  liberties,  and  God 
may  also  punish  them  by  war,  or  famine,  or  pestilence,  or  fire 
from  heaven,  or  servitude,  as  'seemeth  good  in  his  sight.'  This 
truth  can  only  be  denied  by  gross  infidelity." 

In  response  to  such  doctrine,  and  this  sermon,  one  of  his 
congregation  (NOTE.     Who  was  he?)  published  the  following: 

"To  the  Rev.  Joshua  L.  Wilson,  Senior  pastor,  with  the  session  and 
membership  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati. 

"Brethren :  As  I  have  lately  taken  my  letter  and  withdrawn  from 
your  fellowship,  I  feel  anxious  to  give  yourselves  and  the  public  my 
reasons  for  a  step  so  unusual  in  one  of  my  advanced  age  and  fixed  habits. 

"I  have  lived  in  Cincinnati  twenty-five  years,  fourteen  of  which 
I  have  been  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  I  thought  we  all 
were  opposed  to  slavery.  I  did  not  dream  that  the  church  was  doing 
anything  to  encourage  slaveholders,  or  to  uphold  their  system.  If  there 
is  a  sin  on  earth,  it  is  making  innocent  men  slaves  or  keeping  them  so. 
Now  with  the  above  sentiments,  I  cannot  continue  in  the  First  Presby 
terian  Church,  for  the  following  among  other  reasons,  viz : 

"1st.  Your  communion  is  open  to  all  slaveholders  who  are  members 
of  Presbyterian  churches  south  of  the  Ohio. 

"2nd.  My  second  reason  for  withdrawing  from  your  communion  is, 
besides  fellowshiping  with  slaveholders,  it  gives  slavery  itself  the 
strongest  support,  viz,  a  silent  support. 

"3rd.  A  third  reason  for  my  withdrawal  is,  that  your  pastor  openly 
defends  slaveholding,  from  the  sacred  desk,  while  he  pretends  to  regard 
the  system  as  evil. 

"4th.  The  last  reason  I  would  mention  for  my  withdrawal  is,  that 
I  honestly  believe  your  church,  as  now  conducted,  tends  more  to  support 
sin  in  general,  than  to  destroy  it.  When  a  church  fellowships  the  greatest 
and  worst  sins  of  the  land,  can  it  effectually  oppose  the  less?  And  while 
you  uphold  slaveholding,  you  can  make  no  thinking  man  believe  you 
sincere  in  opposing  any  sin  whatever. 

"The  truth  is,  such  a  church  has  lost  its  hold  on  the  consciences  of 
reflecting  men,  and  they  frequent  it  out  of  habit,  fashion,  or  some  motive 
equally  selfish." — A.  A.  T. 

FROM  ROBERT  MCGREW,  PUBLISHERS  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN 

OF  THE  WEST. 

Free  speech  may  ~buy  expression,  if  it  has  the  money. 

Cincinnati,  Sept.  3,  1846. 
DEAB  SIB: 

The  first  year  of  the  Presbyterian  of  the  West  will  terminate  on 
the  18th  inst.,  and  the  probability  is  that  my  sons,  who  are  now  the  pub 
lishers,  may  cease  to  publish  it  any  longer  under  the  present  arrangement. 
They  cannot  afford  to  pay  such  a  salary  to  the  Editor,  and  they  are 

82 


free  to  dispose  of  it  as  they  can.  Now  I  should  like  to  know  what  could 
be  done,  in  your  opinion,  with  the  property,  by  opening  its  columns  to 
a  free  and  full  discussion  of  the  slavery  question,  and  keep  it  as  an 
Old  School  Presbyterian  paper.  The  subscription  list  is  about  2400. 

Respectfully, 

Robert  McGrew. 

TO  HIS  WIFE. 

The  Assembly  of  '^6.    Dr.  Thomas  visits  Dr.  Bishop  at  "Farmer's 
College".    Finds  him  before  his  students.,  at  his  best. 

Philadelphia,  2d  June,  184G. 
Dearest   One: 

The  subject  of  slavery  came  up  yesterday  on  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee.  I  had  the  floor  first,  and  spoke  for  perhaps  an  hour.  I  was 
enabled  to  follow  your  very  kind  and  good  advice,  and  to  speak  with 
perfect  calmness  and  good  temper.  The  result,  as  I  have  been  informed 
from  several  quarters,  was  favorable.  Southern  men  who  at  first  at 
tempted  (privately  )to  ridicule  my  remarks,  by  degrees  became  attentive, 
and  when  I  closed,  admitted  that  what  I  said  was  reasonable  and 
proper.  Several  Southern  men  congratulated  me  on  the  moderation  of 
my  speech,  and  yet  I  need  not  say  to  my  dear  wife,  that  I  kept  back 
nothing  of  my  sentiments.  I  should  not  have  said  so  much  on  this  sub 
ject,  and  with  reference  to  myself  were  I  not  writing  to  my  better  half. 

The  Assembly  adjourned  this  morning.  Our  sessions  have  been  very 
agreeable.  Dr.  Musgrave  of  Baltimore  and  Dr.  McFarland  of  Va.,  al 
though  strong  anti-abolitionists,  parted  from  me  in  the  kindest  way. 
Dr.  Lindsley,  of  Nashville,  although  entirely  dissenting  from  our  opinions 
in  regard  to  slavery,  politely  requested  Brother  Fullerton  and  myself  to 
visit  the  South,  and  enjoy  his  hospitality.  Dr.  Breckenridge  of  Louis 
ville  made  the  same  request  in  the  same  manner.  Dr.  Hodge  of  Prince 
ton  shook  hands  with  me  very  affectionately  on  parting.  He  is  one  of  the 
most  modest,  gentle,  lovely  men  I  ever  met  with.  He  blushes  like  a 
young  bride  when  anything  complimentary  is  addressed  to  him.  At  the 
same  time,  he  is  one  of  the  most  dignified,  talented  and  learned  men  of 
the  Presbyterian,  perhaps  I  might  say  of  the  American  clergy.  I  would 
that  I  might  possess  something  of  his  lovely,  amiable,  Christian 
spirit.  I  am  free  to  confess  that  however  widely  I  may  differ  from  him 
in  opinion  in  regard  to  slavery,  my  prejudices  against  him  personally 
have  wholly  vanished. 

In  starting  for  the  West,  I  need  not  say  I  set  my  face  in  that  direc 
tion  with  great  reluctance,  leaving  almost  all  that  is  dear  to  me  east 
of  the  Alleghanies.  I  go  this  P.  M.  on  the  steamboat  to  Baltimore.  A 
large  party  of  our  delegates  to  the  Assembly,  western  and  southern,  take 
the  same  conveyance.  Dr.  Wm.  Breckenridge  kindly  invited  Brother 
Fullerton  and  myself  to  form  a  party  with  him  and  others,  to  take  a 
separate  stage  at  Cumberland,  where  we  leave  the  railroad,  and  pass 
the  mountains  to  Brownsville.  Our  party  will  be  a  very  pleasant  one; 
consisting  of  Drs.  Wm.  L.  and  Robt.  J.  Breckenridge;  the  intended  step 
daughter  of  the  latter  (he  is  soon  to  be  married, — his  wife  died  a  year 
more  or  less  ago);  Dr.  J.  C.  Young  and  his  eldest  daughter;  a  friend 
from  Baltimore  and  ourselves.  If  my  own  dear  wife  was  in  company,  I 
should  be  perfectly  happy  in  such  society. 

On  Tuesday  morning  at  four  o'clock,  we  set  off  for  Pleasant 
Hill,  and  had  a  delightful  ride.  The  air  was  fresh  and  balmy ;  a 
slight  rain  having  fallen  the  evening  before;  and  the  country  on 
every  side,  offered  a  charming  sight.  Our  vegetation  now  is  in 

83 


the  height  of  its  beauty;  and  the  lofty  forests,  in  their  summer 
dress  of  variously  shaded  green,  are  lovely  and  magnificent.  I 
have  never  seen  any  forests  that  would  compare  with  those  of 
Ohio.  I  called  on  Dr.  Bishop  and  attended  two  of  his  recitations. 
He  lectured  to  one  class  on  originality  of  character  as  a  qualifi 
cation  for  usefulness;  illustrating  his  general  principles  by  very 
numerous  examples  from  the  biography  of  American  statesmen; 
and  concluded  with  a  few  rules  for  the  proper  perusal  of  biog 
raphy,  an  employment  in  which  the  class  is  now  engaged.  The 
lecture  was  truly  admirable ;  fully  equal  to  any  that  I  heard  from 
him  during  my  connection  with  Miami  University.  The  class 
were  young  men  with  very  good,  intelligent-looking  countenances ; 
and  they  paid  the  strictest  attention.  Dr.  B's  health  and  spir 
its  are  better  now  than  they  have  been  for  several  years.  I  be 
lieve  I  told  you  that  he  is  residing  in  the  house  built  for  him  by 
the  Alumni,  and  a  very  neat,  convenient,  pleasant  one  it  is. 

TO   HIS   WIFE. 

Who  fears  he  does  not  know  how  to  live  when  she  is  away. 

Rossville,   17th  June,  1846. 
Dearest  One: 

I  have  just  received  your  kind  and  refreshing  letter,  for  which  I  have 
been  anxiously  waiting  and  inquiring  more  than  a  week.  *  *  Although 
late,  I  will  at  once  reply;  reading  your  letter  again  and  answering  your 
numerous  questions  as  they  occur. 

First,  however,  permit  me  to  ask  that  you  date  your  letters.  Your 
first  letter  had  "May  1846";  this,  "Tuesday  Eve.  1846".  Now  as  there 
are  several  Tuesday  Eves  in  1846,  I  hardly  know  to  which  to  assign  your 
epistle.  1.  I  sent  several  copies  of  the  Philadelphia  Sun,  containing  the 
proceedings  of  both  Assemblies,  which  I  hope  you  received.  2.  Dr.  Hodge 
of  Princeton,  is  the  author  of  the  "Way  of  Life".  3.  Ministers  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  are  not  required  to  become  members  of  their  own 
churches.  Their  connection  is  with  the  Presbytery.  Ministers  are  under 
Shepherds;  (see  1  Peter  5,  1-4).  With  what  propriety  then,  can  they  be 
made  sheep  of  their  own  flock?  4.  I  lost  nothing  during  my  whole  journey 
except  Hitchcock's  Geology.  My  clothes  were  well  done,  and  uninjured, 
while  at  Philadelphia.  (By  the  way,  speaking  of  your  washerwoman,  you 
should  not  say  "a  poor,  but  worthy  woman",  etc.  Poverty  is  not  incon 
sistent  with  goodness;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  as  frequently  associated  with 
that  quality  as  riches,  perhaps  more  frequently.  Pardon  this  correction). 

*  *     7.     I    board   at   my   brother's,   and   am   very   punctual :    I   don't 
keep  them  waiting.    8.    I  don't  read  books  or  papers  at  table:  hav'n't  done 
so  for  sometime;  don't  intend  to  do  so  again.  *  *  12.     Our  yard  has  been 
mowed  well  and  looks  very  pretty:  the  little  sweet  briar  in  front  of  your 
chamber  window  has  grown  up  above  the  window-seat.     *  * 

*  *  *  * 

In  reply  to  your  18th  question,  (surely  you  justify  your  Yankee 
origin),  I  may  say  that  your  letter  was  charged  single  postage,  although 
doubly  precious  to  me  in  size  and  contents. 

So  far  then,  my  good  wife,  I  have  written  by  way  of  answer  to  your 
interrogatories.  If  your  letter  was  helter  skelter,  what  a  medley  was 
mine!  *  *  *  * 

84 


FROM  REV.  R.  H.  BISHOP,  D.   D. 

Gary's  Academy,  August  9,  1848. 

My  dear  friend:  Were  I  to  begin  life  again,  and  were  I  to 
be  engaged  in  teaching  through  another  thirty  or  forty  years,  I 
would  act,  in  many  things,  very  differently  from  the  course 
which  I  have  often  or  generally  followed. 

No  general  principle  is  with  me  more.  *lear,  than  that  the 
improvement  of  a  young  man's  mind  and  the  formation  of  his 
character  for  any  department  of  life  do  not  depend  so  much  on 
the  length  of  time  devoted  to  preparatory  studies  or  on  the  num 
ber  of  subjects  to  which  his  attention  may  be  directed,  as  on  the 
clearness  and  accuracy  of  his  conceptions  of  any  one  useful 
subject. 

A  young  man  has  got  a  good  education  when  he  has  acquired 
the  command  of  his  own  mind,  so  that  he  can  apply  it  with  ease 
to  any  of  the  ordinary  purposes  of  human  life.  And  I  honestly 
believe  that  one  of  the  great  evils  of  all  our  schools,  from  .the 
lowest  to  the  highest,  is  an  attempt  to  teach  too  many  things  in 
a  given  time,  whether  it  may  be  one  subject  or  another. 

I  apply  these  facts  or  principles  to  our  theological  semina 
ries  ;  and  however  useful  such  seminaries  as  Princeton  and  Lane, 
etc.,  etc.,  may  be  or  may  have  been,  it  is  my  settled  conviction 
that  as  efficient  ministers  may  be  secured  in  far  less  time  and 
at  far  less  expense  of  labor. 

The  outline  of  my  plan  is  something  like  the  following: 

1.  To  give  no  encouragement  to  any  young  man  to  study 
theology,  or  to  take  any  course  preparatory  to  the  study  of  theol 
ogy,  till  his  character  and  talents  are  well  known. 

2.  I  take  a  young  man  of  established  piety  and  who  has 
gotten  a  good  English  education  at  any  age  from  eighteen  to 
twenty-five;  and  if  he  has  made  any  progress  in  the  study  of 
Greek  or  Latin,  so  much  the  better;  but  not  an  essential  pre 
requisite,  provided  he  gives  evidence  of  a  good,  sound  mind,  and 
that  he  is  sincerely  and  honestly  devoted  to  the  service  of  the 
Redeemer:  and  I  would  put  him  under  the  direction  of  a  compe 
tent,  working,  efficient  pastor. 

3.  Under   his   supervision,   let   his  first   year  be   chiefly 
devoted  to  Philosophy;  and  let  the  grammars  of  the  three  lan 
guages  be  his  chief  study,  English,  Latin,  Greek ;  and  let  him  con 
tinue  this  study  till  he  can  read  with  ease  the  Greek  Testament 
and  any  portion  of  Caesar.     When  he  has  thus  far  advanced, 
let  him  begin  his  theological  course  in  the  regular  study  of  the 
history  and  doctrines  and  prophecies  of  the  Bible;  and  let  him 
write  a  dissertation  on  some  subject  of  Bible  history  every  week. 

4.  At  the  commencement  of  his  second  or  third  year  of 
study,  as  the  case  may  be,  let  him  take  some  approved  system 
of  theology,  say  the  Westminster  Confession  or  Dick's  Theology, 

85 


and  let  him  study  a  chapter  or  lecture  every  week,  and  continue 
to  write  dissertations  on  subjects  directly  from  the  Bible. 

5.  Let  him  be  put  under  the  care  of  Presbytery  at  any  con 
venient  stage,  and  let  him  be  employed  all  the  time  of  his  pre 
paratory  studies  in  Sabbath-school  or  tract  distribution  and 
prayer-  meetings,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  under  the  direction  of  his  pastor. 

Now  for  the  application. 

Could  you  not  Commence  a  course  of  instruction  and  super 
vision,  on  a  plan  of  this  kind?  If  so,  let  me  know  it  as  soon  as 
convenient,  and  I  will  furnish  you  with  some  two  or  three  men 
to  begin  with.  Sincerely  yours, 

R.  H.  Bishop. 

P.  S.  My  notion  is,  some  two  to  five  pious  and  active  young 
men  under  your  direction  would  be  a  tolerable  addition  to  the 
moral  and  religious  influence  of  Hamilton,  which  has  hitherto 
been  for  young  men  a  nursery  for  -  — .  (NOTE.  Illegi 

ble  on  the  manuscript,  but  not  difficult  to  be  supplied  by  any  res 
ident  of  Hamilton).  I  think  also  that  your  parochial  school  and 
Farmer's  College  might  aid  and  react  on  each  other.  Let  a 
young  man  of  the  right  stamp  be  one  year  or  eighteen  months 
here,  and  then  two  or  three  years  with  you ;  then  eighteen  months 
here  and  again  one  year  or  eighteen  months  with  you,  etc. 

NOTE.  Dr.  Bishop  was  a  great  teacher  because  he  had  been 
well  taught;  because  he  had  a  genius  for  the  business,  and 
because  of  the  training  of  a  long  experience.  Sometime,  when 
Miami  justifies  herself,  she  will  frescoe  her  vestibule  with  part 
of  the  first  three  paragraphs  of  this  letter.  Or  she  might  frame 
and  hang  these  sentences  in  her  School  of  Pedagogy.  We  can 
wait  until  she  does:  meanwhile,  the  printer  may  set  the  copy 
here. 

"Cary's  Academy,  August  9,  1848. 

"Were  I  to  begin  my  life  again,  and  were  I  to  be  engaged  in  teaching 
through  another  thirty  or  forty  years,  I  would  act,  in  many  things,  very 
differently  from  the  course  which  I  have  often  or  generally  followed. 

No  general  principle  is  with  me  more  clear,  than  that  the  improvement 
of  a  young  man's  mind  and  the  formation  of  his  character  for  any  depart 
ment  of  life  do  not  depend  so  much  on  the  number  of  subjects  to  which 
his  attention  may  be  directed,  as  on  the  clearness  and  the  accuracy  of  his 
conceptions  of  any  one  useful  subject. 

A  young  man  has  got  a  good  education  when  he  has  acquired  the 
command  of  his  own  mind,  so  that  he  can  apply  it  with  ease  to  any  of 
the  ordinary  purposes  of  human  life.  And  I  honestly  believe  that  one  of 
the  great  evils  of  all  our  schools,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  is  an 
attempt  to  teach  too  many  things  in  a  given  time,  whether  it  may  be  one 
subject  or  another." 

The  misnomer  of  "Farmer's  College"  was  due  to  the  Carys, 
not  to  Dr.  Bishop:  to  him  from  the  time  he  went  there,  it  was 
Cary's  Academy. 

The  teaching  of  old  Dr.  Adam  in  the  high  school  of  Edin- 
burg  was  narrow,  but  the  finest  in  the  world  to  give  a  student 

86 


trained  capacity  to  learn  other  things.  The  mistake  is  in  sup 
posing  that  at  first,  by  widening  a  student's  studies  you 
strengthen  his  mind  and  widen  his  interest.  The  reverse  is  true, 
— so  at  least  Dr.  Bishop  thought,  after  forty  years  of  teaching. 
If  Dr.  Bishop's  words  have  value,  it  is  because  they  are  wise ;  and 
practical  and  needed  and  of  permanent  and  general  application, 
in  all  schools  and  to  every  student,  in  his  "preparatory  studies" 
and  in  his  later  technical  training. 

You  laugh  at  the  narrowness  of  Bishop's  ideal  of  what  a 
student's  ought  to  be.  My  father,  his  pupil,  did  not  so  under 
stand.  While  teaching  in  Franklin  and  quickly  fitting  for  the 
ministry,  he  lectured  there  on  chemistry  with  demonstrations, 
in  church,  to  large  and  entertained  audiences,  who  were  not 
special  students.  Five  years  later,  Prof.  Jno.  W.  Scott  and 
he  rode  often  in  Southwestern  Ohio,  botanizing,  and  my  father 
taught  botany  for  years.  Later  yet,  Jared  M.  Stone  and  he 
made  a  collection  of  rocks  and  fossils  in  Southern  Indiana 
that  attracted  curiosity  and  gratitude  of  Prof.  Henry  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.  Throughout  the  war,  he  by  voice  and 
pen,  led  and  held  this  whole  Dayton  community  to  the  support 
of  the  war,  which  to  him  was  a  crusade. 

Nothing  was  further  from  the  wishes  of  these  early 
teachers  of  Miami  than  to  have  education  go  on  in  the  groove  it 
had  come  to  them  in.  Dr.  Bishop  listened,  and  warmly  approved 
what  Dr.  MacMaster  said  when  resigning  the  presidency  at 
Oxford,  on  the  essentials  of  professional  education.  There  was 
nothing  narrow  about  that,  and  it  is  the  best  written  or  spoken 
word  in  the  literature  of  Pedagogics. 

The  wants  of  an  unheard  of  and  urgent  industrial  develop 
ment  require  our  sons  to  study,  not  "Dick's  Theology,"  but 
Dynamometry  and  gas  engines,  do  they  ?  Then  let  them.  Admis 
sion  to  a  mechanical  engineering  course  at  Cornell  now  requires 
a  breadth  and  degree  of  preparation  measured  on  one  item,  by 
advanced  French  and  advanced  German.  Its  president  called 
such  students  together  this  year,  and  regretfully  announced  that 
experience  began  to  convince  Cornell's  instructors  that  its  vari 
ety  of  studies  and  high  attainment  do  not  consist;  and  that  to 
reach  such  high  attainment  they  must  abandon  so  many  avenues 
of  approach. 

If  report  comes  to  me  correctly,  he  would  now  highly 
approve  the  first  three  paragraphs  of  the  above  letter.  If  those 
words  were  on  your  vestibule,  and  he  should  visit  Miami,  he 
would  more  likely  copy  them  in  his  note  book;  then  go  home  and 
tell  his  students  what  they  were,  than  try  to  remember  the  wide 
variety  of  electives  you  offer  to  unmatured  minds, — a  mistake 
his  university  is  making  already.  If  those  words  of  Dr.  Bishop 
have  wisdom,  they  are  modestly  said,  and  apply  to  any  student 

87 


in  the  obscurity  of  any  remote  home  in  touch  with  any  "Corre 
spondence  School." 

Kindly  think  if  these  things  be  not  so,  and  if  they  be  so,  let 
us  forget  the  threadbare  coat  Dr.  Bishop  wore,  and  the  price  of 
cornmeal  and  barley  corns  which  Miami  University  fed  him. 

The  second  half  of  Dr.  Bishop's  letter,  for  it  divides  itself 
in  two  parts,  is  not  less  striking.  The  writer  of  the  Centennial 
memorial,  chapter  1,  derides  President  Garfield's  favorite  and 
famed  definition  of  a  liberal  education, — "Mark  Hopkins  on  one 
end  of  a  log  and  student  on  the  other." 

President  Eliot  of  Harvard,  from  the  vantage  ground  of 
much  experience  to  qualify  him  to  know,  seems  to  be  in  favor  of 
Garfield's  view.  In  an  address  he  said : 

"To  the  making  of  a  gentleman  what  is  necessary?  In  the  first 
place  natural  gifts.  *  *  In  other  words  he  is  a  person  of  fine  bodily  and 
spiritual  qualities,  mostly  innate.  Secondly,  he  must  have  thorough  ele 
mentary  education,  early  access  to  books,  and  therefore  to  great  thoughts 
and  high  examples.  Thirdly,  he  must  be  early  brought  into  contact  with 
some  refined  and  noble  person — father,  mother,  teacher,  pastor,  employer, 
or  friend." 

In  trying  to  express  the  same  thing,  Dr.  Bishop  in  his  post 
script,  uses  the  better  words  "a  young  man  of  the  right  stamp." 
He  would  have  taken  his  pen  and  erased  from  Eliot's  line  the 
word  "Jbodily."  "But  E.  was  speaking  of  the  making  of  a  gentle 
man."  Yes,  but  it  does  not  take  bodily  qualities  to  do  that. 
Lincoln  proved  this.  In  a  beautiful  biographical  tribute  to  his 
dead  son,  President  Eliot  writes:  "He  believed  that  a  loving 
God  rules  the  universe,  that  the  path  to  loving  Him  lies  through 
loving  and  serving  men,  and  that  the  way  to  worship  Him  is  to 
reverence  the  earthly  beauty,  truth,  and  goodness  He  has  brought 
forth."  * 

Dr.  Bishop  would  have  taken  his  pen  and  erased  the  word 
"earthly." 

Perhaps  the  latter  half  of  Dr.  Bishop's  letter  was,  for  a  the 
ological  student  not  so  bad  an  offer.  Only  a  log, — on  the  one 
end  the  old  doctor  feeling  he  had  "the  arm  of  the  Almighty 
about  him ;"  on  the  other  Dr.  Thomas,  who  would  teach  him  Latin, 
Greek,  Hebrew  and  Exegesis.  Kindly  note  the  doctor  offers  no 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  "technical  training  in  ninety  days,"  with  a  diploma 
at  the  end.  Read  again  in  the  postscript  of  this  letter,  the  "first 
year,"  and  "the  second  and  third  year"  of  study,  he  is  to  write 
and  at  last  to  preach,  while  he  is  learning  and  when  he  has 
learned  what  to  say.  Please  note  again,  that  about  them  then 
were  many  young  men  hungry  for  these  technics,  who  looked  up 
and  were  not  fed;  they  had  no  money,  and  what  Dr.  Bishop 
proposed,  would  cost  them  nothing.  A.  A.  T.,  May,  1909. 

*  "Chas.  Eliot,  Landscape  Architect,"  page  748. 

88 


TO  REV.  CHARLES  STURDEVANT,  D.  D. 
Would  he  "disturb  the  community"? 

Rossville,  25th  June,  1849. 
My  dear  Brother  Sturdevant : 

You  have  no  reason  to  fear  wearying  me  with  your  epistles. 
I  know  the  kind  intentions  which  dictate  your  letter;  although  I 
must  wholly  disagree  with  your  conclusions. 

"Could  I  ask  a  slaveholder  to  preach  for  me"?  There  are 
some  men  more  or  less  connected  with  slavery  whom  I  should 
feel  it  a  privilege  to  hear;  but  I  fear  there  are  not  a  few  who 
might  show  clean  papers,  technichally  so  called,  whom  I  could 
neither  ask  to  preach,  nor  sit  to  hear.  I  should  be  obliged  to 
judge  every  case  on  its  merits.  If  I  met  with  a  minister  excusa 
bly  involved,  I  should  seek  any  ministerial  or  other  association 
with  him.  Secondly.  "Would  you  feel  it  your  duty  to  discuss 
this  great  and  perplexing  subject,  either  in  public  or  in  private, 
to  the  disturbance  of  the  community?"  You  scarcely  mean  to 
ask  whether  I  would  discuss  the  question  or  preach  on  it,  for 
the  purpose  of  disturbing  a  community;  and  if  you  mean  to  en 
quire  whether  I  should  discuss  it  as  duty  might  seem  to  demand. 
without  regard  to  all  the  clamor  on  earth  or  in  hell,  I  answer, 
YES.  I  thank  God  no  subject  is  so  great  or  perplexing  that  I 
should  hesitate  to  discuss  it  publicly  or  privately,  whenever  in 
the  providence  of  God  the  circumstances  around  me  might  re 
quire  it,  without  forethought  or  afterthought,  as  to  the  effect  the 
truth  might  have  in  disturbing  anybody.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  I  should,  under  any  circumstances  feel  myself  obliged  to 
preach  about  slavery  merely  to  show  my  independence ;  that  were 
folly;  but  it  is  my  deliberate  conviction  that  the  man  is  un 
worthy  of  the  pulpit  who  would,  in  any  way,  or  to  any  extent, 
enter  into  a  compromise  with  public  sentiment  in  reference  to 
this  subject,  or  tone  down  his  preaching  as  an  ambassador  of 
God.  Pardon  me,  if  I  need  pardon,  for  the  faithful  statement  of 
my  consciencious  belief  on  this  subject,  which,  in  my  judgment 
is  a  vital  one. 

DR.  ROBERT  H.  BISHOP  TO  PROFESSOR  JARED  M.   STONE. 

Sees  in  retrospect  and  for  the  first  time,  "the  difficulties  with 
which  he  was  surrounded  the  last  five  years  at  Oxford". 
But  feete  "the  arm  of  the  Almighty  has  been  about  him". 
"Disappointments  often  the  greatest  blessings". 

My  dear  friend :  26  June,  1849. 

What  I  did,  or  said,  or  proposed,  as  to  a  new  organization  of 
Miami  University,  was  all  on  the  spur  of  the  moment;  and,  as  I 

89 


know  my  own  heart,  I  had  no  personal  or  private  ends  to  gratify. 
I  was,  however,  in  that,  as  on  some  other  occasions,  but  suffering 
by  being  too  full  and  forward  in  uttering  at  once  all  my  thoughts. 
If  I  know  myself,  no  man  can  feel  more  deeply  for  the  permanent 
prosperity  of  Miami  University  than  I  do ;  but  I  have  not  wished 
to  force  my  views  or  plans. 

One  word  more.  I  regret  that  I  was  not  informed  that  Dr. 
Anderson's  name  was  to  be  introduced,  previous  to  the  meeting  of 
the  Board.  I  should  not  in  that  case  have  written  all  that  I 
have  written;  yet  I  hold  to  my  general  principle,  that  the  hope  of 
Miami  University  must  be  in  her  sons. 

I  never  since  I  left  Kentucky,  saw  and  felt  the  evils  of  slan 
der  as  I  now  see  and  feel  them;  and  I  had  no  adequate  concep 
tion  of  the  difficulties  with  which  I  was  surrounded  during  my 
last  five  years  residence  in  Oxford,  till  I  had  been  one  year  in  a 
new  situation.  My  life  has  been  full  of  mistakes  and  blunders; 
still  I  have  some  considerable  evidence  that  the  arm  of  the  Al- 
migthy  has  been  about  me ;  and  that  some  of  my  disappointments 
have  been  among  my  greatest  mercies.  I  ought  now  to  be  done 
with  all  the  plans,  in  contriving  and  balancing  of  different  inter 
ests  and  human  arrangements,  to  be  ready  to  depart  at  any  hour's 
warning  for  another  world.  Sincerely  yours, 

R.  H.  BISHOP. 


90 


IV 

TO  REV.  W.   SICKELS,  A  TRUSTEE  OF  HANOVER  COLLEGE. 

The  education  of  Northern  ministers  in  a  slave  state.      What 
will  follow,  if  the  young  men  go  to  Danville. 

My  Dear  Brother  Sickels :  Hanover  College,  21  July,  1854. 

I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  should  exchange  Hanover 
College  for  New  Albany  Theological  Seminary,  very  slowly,  and 
I  may  say  reluctantly.  We  greatly  need  a  seminary  in  the  free 
states  of  the  West :  our  men  are  seriously  dissatisfied  with  Prince 
ton; — many  of  them  are  not  there, — will  not  go  there.  I  cannot 
persuade  myself  that  the  Head  of  the  Church  would  approve  our 
sending  them  to  the  slave  state,  for  that  training.  I  believe  that 
a  greater  blow  could  scarcely  be  inflicted  upon  our  northern 
church.  Let  southern  students,  born  and  reared  among  the  in 
fluences  of  slavery,  receive  their  education  at  Danville.  They 
may  come  out  with  a  cordial  abhorrence  of  slavery.  But  take 
Northern  men  there  to  overcome  their  "prejudices"  by  familiarity 
with  the  peculiar  institution — in  other  words,  blunt  their  sensi 
bilities,  sear  their  conscience,  erase  all  recollections  of  the  love 
of  freedom  which  a  mother's  early  lessons  had  taught;  and  you 
prepare  them,  and  send  them  over  our  free  regions  to  be  the  very 
stoutest  advocates  of  American  slavery.  I  say  again,  may  God 
spare  our  churches  from  such  a  ministry.  I  have  no  idea  of 
making  New  Albany  Seminary  an  "abolition  concern",  in  the 
sense  which  many  good  men  would  attach  to  that  phrase;  yet  I 
would  prefer  an  abolition  to  a  pro-slavery  concern,  if  we  must 
have  either.  But  if  our  churches  in  the  North  West  not  only  do 
not  build  up  an  institution  where  their  sons  may  be  trained  at 
home;  but  actually  throw  away  $50,000  already  secured  for  it, 
and  abandon  what  our  fathers  have  labored  on  during  a  quarter 
of  a  century;  they  do  actually  recommend  their  candidates  for 
the  ministry  to  seek  an  education  at  Danville.  And  I  have  as 
surance  that  many  were  prepared  to  put  such  an  interpretation 
upon  our  action. 

FROM  REV.  W.  C.  ANDERSON,  D.  D. 

Who  as  President  of  Miami  Succeeded  Dr.  MacMaster. 

Rev.  Dr.  Thomas.  San  Francisco,  5  August,  1856. 

Dear  Brother:     John  leaves  us  this  morning  to  spend  another  year 
with  you.       If  he  can  be  licensed  at  the  close  of  your  next  session,  and 

91 


with  the  necessary  preparations,  I  will  be  pleased.  We  need  help  sadly 
in  these  wide  desolations ;  and  the  mining  towns  and  camps  present  an 
interesting  field  for  a  young  man  to  practice  on ;  but  he  must  be  able  to 
preach  to  some  purpose,  or  it  is  vain  to  do  anything  among  them.  Such 
communities,  Brother  Thomas,  you  never  saw,  and  never  will  see  unless 
you  come  to  California.  Think  of  a  congregation  of  four  hundred  to  seven 
hundred  rough  looking  customers,  with  long  beards  and  mustaches, 
slouched  hats  and  red  shirts ;  not  a  dozen  females  among  the  lot ;  and  per- 
hapts  one-half  of  the  entire  number  are  graduated  at  some  of  our  best 
American  Colleges;  the  other  half  shrewd,  keen,  knowing  ones:  all 
critics;  all,  as  they  suppose,  judges,  and  in  fact  judges.  The  man  who 
enters  such  a  congregation  and  supposes  that  he  is  addressing  a  collection 
of  Welsh  and  English  miners,  or  of  ordinary  laboring  men,  is  just  as  far 
up  the  wrong  tree  as  he  can  climb  without  endangering  his  neck. 

I  hope  that  you  will  be  able  to  make  a  first  class  preacher  out  of  my 
son.  If  you  do  not,  please  keep  him  at  home,  and  get  him  a  church  in 
Ohio  or  Indiana.  We  have  enough  of  common  men  here  already,  in  the 
ministry,  and  wrhen  I  came  I  think  that  there  was  one  more  than  enough. 

TO  NATHANIEL  FISHER,  HIS  FATHER-IN-LAW. 

Dr.  Thomas's  work;  finances;  the  completed  result  of  twenty 
years  labor  m  the  ministry.  Review  of  the  question  of  Semi 
nary,  and  its  removal.  Names  of  men  co-operating. 

New  Albany  Theolog.  Seminary, 

Nov.    14,   1856. 
My  dear  Sir: 

As  relates  to  my  own  employment,  I  am  still  engaged  in  the  Semi 
nary  ;  in  addition  to  which,  since  last  April,  I  have  been  preaching  on 
the  Sabbath  to  the  church  at  Jeffersonville,  about  six  miles  east  of  us  on 
the  Ohio.  I  have  usually,  through  the  summer,  walked  up  early  on 
Sabbath  morning ;  preached  at  10 :  30  A.  M. ;  held  a  Bible  Class  at  3 :  30 
P.  M. ;  preached  again  at  night ;  and  walked  home  after  service  Sabbath 
night,  or  before  breakfast  on  Monday.  This,  together  with  three  hours 
of  daily  teaching  in  the  seminary,  and  the  necessary  private  study,  gives 
me  full  employment;  and  may  justify  the  inference  that  I  am  blessed 
with  health  and  strength.  The  opportunity  to  preach  was  a  providential 
opening  unsought,  and  indeed  unexpected;  but  it  came  as  all  blessings  do 
come,  very  opportunely.  My  salary  here  is  twelve  hundred  dollars,  and 
is  paid  slowly  but  really.  This  would  seem  to  be  enough ;  but  as  I  did 
not  receive  from  Hanover  College  all  that  was  due  me  when  I  left,  I 
had  some  debts  which  I  have  since  paid  out  of  money  received  here. 
And  then,  for  the  past  two  or  three  years,  provisions  of  all  sorts,  (and 
indeed  all  things)  have  been  so  high-priced  that  $1200  have  not  been 
worth  more  than  $600  I  received  at  Hamilton,  with  former  prices  of 
marketing.  Besides  this,  our  family  now  growing  up,  and  requiring  edu 
cation,  (May  is  taller  than  her  mother)  calls  for  an  increased  expendi 
ture.  It  was  a  kind  providence,  therefore,  which  opened  the  way  for 
usefulness  at  Jeffersonville,  not  at  all  interfering  with  my  seminary 
duties,  but  adding  $500  per  year,  paid  every  week,  to  our  income.  We 
hope  and  expect,  when  we  leave  New  Albany,  as  we  probably  shall  leave 
next  spring,  to  be  out  of  debt,  here  and  everywhere.  And  this  freedom 
from  indebtedness  which  I  have  never  enjoyed  before  since  I  left  college, 
will  be  the  pecuniary  result  of  twenty  years  hard  labor  in  the  ministry. 
I  completed  my  twenty  years  as  a  minister  about  the  middle  of  October 
last.  To  owe  nothing  and  own  nothing  will  be  all  that  I  can  boast  in 
this  line.  Surely  the  ministry,  in  these  days,  does  not  present  many 

92 


worldly  attractions!  Blessed  be  God  that  there  are  other  rewards  than 
those  which  can  be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents !  I  have  spoken  of  our 
leaving  New  Albany  next  Spring.  I  suppose  you  have  heard  something 
of  our  recent  plans  for  the  removal  of  the  seminary;  or  rather  for  the 
establishment  of  a  new  one,  in  which  this  is  to  be  merged. 

To  explain  this  movement,  I  must  inform  you  that  the  New 
Albany  Seminary  was  established  here  in  1840,  with  a  view  to 
unite  in  its  support  the  churches  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and 
Missouri,  as  well  as  those  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois.  In  fact, 
however,  no  earnest  or  effective  co-operation  was  ever  secured, 
and  the  seminary  remained  but  partially  endowed  and  manned. 
In  1853,  the  General  Assembly  w,as  invited  to  take  charge  of  and 
perfect  our  seminary;  but,  through  the  influence  of  one  or  two 
men  from  Kentucky,  and  the  predominance  of  Southern  power 
and  sympathy,  the  Assembly  virtually  declined  the  offer  of  this 
seminary,  and  established  another  at  Danville,  Ky.  The  Synods 
in  the  free  states  were  displeased  with  this  action:  the  three 
Synods  of  Cincinnati,  Indiana,  and  Northern  Indiana  determined 
to  maintain  the  seminary  here.  I  was  then  at  Hanover,  but  was 
a  director  of  the  seminary,  and  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  educa 
tion  of  our  future  ministry  in  a  free  state,  away  from  the  pol 
luting  influences  of  slavery. 

It  was  foreseen,  however,  that  when  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Mis 
souri  had  withdrawn,  New  Albany  was  no  longer  a  suitable  place  for 
our  seminary;  being  wholly  on  one  side  of  the  territory  which  it  was 
designed  to  supply.  Still,  we  felt  satisfied  that  we  had  better  wait  a 
while  before  we  attempted  a  removal.  In  the  meantime,  we  could  do 
nothing  toward  an  increase  of  endowment ;  could  not,  therefore,  increase 
the  number  of  professors  ;  and  so  could  not  compete  fairly  with  the  older  and 
better  furnished  institutions.  We  could  expect  but  few  students,  and  must 
await  patiently  doing  what  we  could,  until  the  time  had  come  for  action. 
This  summer,  after  mature  consideration  of  the  subject,  we  were  satisfied 
that  the  time  had  come.  Accordingly  I  drew  up  an  appeal  to  the  seven 
Synods  of  the  northwestern  free  States,  which  was  signed  by  a  number 
of  our  friends,  *  and  sent  in  a  printed  pamphlet  to  all  our  churches 
and  ministers  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa. 
Dr.  MacMaster,  Dr.  Stevenson,  (the  pastor  of  the  church  here)  and 
I  attended  the  meetings  of  the  Synods  this  fall.  Dr.  S.  and  I  first 
visited  the  Synod  of  Cincinnati,  Oct.  2nd,  at  Urbana,  Ohio.  That 
body  with  the  exception  of  one  man,  adopted  a  constitution  of  a  new 
seminary,  which  had  been  already  prepared  at  New  Albany;  and 
appointed  directors  to  meet  at  Chicago,  and  take  the  necessary  measures 
for  establishing  the  institution,  and  incorporating  into  it  this  seminary. 
From  Urbana,  Dr.  S.  and  I  went  to  Chicago,  where  we  spent  a  day  and 
separated ;  he  to  visit  the  Iowa  Synod,  at  Burlington ;  I  to  meet  that 
of  Wisconsin,  at  Janesville:  while  Dr.  MacMaster  met  that  of  Illinois, 
at  Springfield.  The  three  Synods  met  on  the  same  day,  and  unanimously 
adopted  our  constitution. 

Next  week.  I  went  to  Crawfordsville,  Ind.,  where  the  Synod  of 
Northern  Indiana  met;  while  Dr.  S.  met  the  Synod  of  Chicago  at  Prince- 

*  This  appeal  was  signed  by  E.  D.  MaeMaster,  J.  M.  Stevenson,  J.  W. 
Scott,  J.  G.  Moufort,  H.  Maltby,  Jno.  F.  Crowe,  Thos.  S.  Crowe,  T.  E. 
Thomas,  John  Crozier,  Victor  King,  Cyrus  Falconer,  Nehemiah  Wade,  O.  N. 
Stoddard,  Ch.  Elliott,  J.  H.  McCampbell,  P.  S.  Shields  and  Jno.  Bushness. 

93 


ton,  111.  The  Synods  of  Chicago  and  Northern  Indiana  took  early  and 
unanimous  action  in  favor  of  the  new  Seminary ;  so  that  Dr.  S.  and  I 
reached  Paris,  111.,  he  from  the  West  and  I  from  the  East,  within  half 
an  hour  of  each,  other  on  Saturday  evening;  and  had  the  satisfaction  of 
aiding  in  the  adoption  of  our  constitution  the  same  evening ;  thus  com 
pleting  the  work.  Each  of  the  Synods  elected  Directors.  The  Board  of 
Directors  assembled  this  day  week  in  Chicago.  (NOTE.  They  were: 
Synod  of  Cincinnati,  Rev.  R.  L.  Stanton,  Rev.  J.  G.  Montfort,  Rev.  N.  West, 
Jr.,  Rev.  W.  B.  Spence,  Prof.  O.  N.  Stoddard,  J.  M.  Glover,  Esq.,  E.  A. 
Moore,  Esq. — Synod  of  Indiana,  Rev.  Jno.  M.  Stevenson,  Rev.  Jno.  A. 
Steele,  Rev.  Alex.  Street,  A.  R.  Forsythe,  Esq.,  James  Blake,  Esq.,  James 
M.  Ray,  Esq. — Synod  of  Northern  Indiana,  Rev.  J.  C.  Brown,  Rev.  Levi 
Hughs,  Victor  King,  Esq.,  Jesse  L.  WTilliams,  Esq., — Synod  of  Illinois,  Rev. 
T.  W.  Haynes,  Rev.  F.  N.  Ewing,  James  L.  Lamb,  Esq. — Synod  of  Chicago, 
Rev.  S.  T.  Wilson,  Rev.  R.  C.  Matthews,  C.  A.  Spring,  Esq. — Synod  of 
Iowa,  Rev.  Joshua  Phelps,  Rev.  Jas.  D.  Mason,  Rev.  J.  J.  Baird,  Hon. 
Lincoln  Clark,  Jno.  P.  Conkey,  Esq. — Synod  of  Wisconsin,  Rev.  J.  M. 
Buchanan,  Rev.  H.  M.  Robertson,  Warren  Norton,  Esq.)  I  was  not  present ; 
but  Dr.  Stevenson,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Board,  and  Dr.  MacMaster, 
have  just  returned. 

They  agreed  to  establish  the  new  seminary  called  "The  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  North  West",  about  seven  miles  southeast  of  Chicago,  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  on  the  Michigan  Central  Railway.  The 
site  is  a  beautiful  elevation,  covered  with  forest  trees.  The  railroad 
makes  it  but  a  few  moments  distant  from  the  city.  Here,  the  Board 
proposes  to  erect  a  suitable  seminary  building,  and  houses  for  three 
professors;  and  it  is  hoped  that  they  may  be  ready  by  next  Fall,  so  that 
the  institution  may  be  opened  in  October.  Dr.  MacMaster  and  I  were 
elected  professors  in  the  departments  we  now  occupy ;  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Brown,  President  of  Jefferson  College,  Penn.,  was  appointed  to  the 
professorship  of  Church  History. 

I  have  not  yet  decided  whether  to  accept  the  professorship  offered 
me ;  and  if  I  should,  I  shall  not  remove  there  until  our  support  is  secured 
by  the  endowment. 

NOTE.  The  names  of  the  Directors  of  the  New  Albany  Theo 
logical  Seminary,  successively,  were  the  following : 

S.  Ramsey  Wilson,  J.  N.  Candee,  Joseph  G.  Monfort,  William  S.  Potts, 
Samuel  Steele,  Tho.  V.  Thornton,  W.  C.  Matthews,  H.  H.  Cambern,  Wil 
liamson  Dunn,  Jno.  Bushnell,  Sylvester  Scovel,  Victor  King,  J.  Finley 
Crowe,  N.  L.  Rice,  Tho.  E.  Thomas,  Frances  Monfort,  Daniel  Stewart, 
Chauncey  Leavenworth,  T.  E.  Hughes,  James  Coe,  W.  C.  Anderson,  Sam'l 
Cleland,  S.  Newell,  Elias  Ayers,  Win.  Plummer.  R.  G.  Wilson,  E.  D.  Mac- 
Master,  Jas.  C.  Barnes,  J.  Edwards,  Wm.  W.  Hill.  Edw.  P.  Humphrey, 
Jno.  S.  Galloway,  D.  L.  Gray,  Henry  L.  Brown,  J.  S.  Shields,  Jno.  D. 
Therpel,  W.  Richardson,  J.  S.  Bereyman,  Jno.  Clark  Bayliss,  R.  C.  Grundy, 
A.  R.  Forsythe,  Jos.  C.  Clappe,  Phillip  Lindsley,  James  Wood,  Thos.  A. 
Biggs,  Sr.,  Alex.  Sterrit,  M.  Sturgus,  W.  L.  Breckenridge,  David  Osborn, 
F.  N.  Ewing,  Edw.  H.  Hopkins,  Tho.  V.  Thornton,  Sam'l  Casseway,  J.  M. 
Preston,  Owen  Glass,  A.  B.  Andrew,  Chas.  Sturdevant,  L.  J.  Halsey,  Sam'l 
McCampbell,  J.  M.  Stevenson,  J.  D.  Paxton,  E.  K.  Lynn,  Jno.  F.  Smith, 
Dan'l  Lattimore,  Hugh  S.  Fulerton,  M.  Maltby,  Thos.  Whallen,  J.  A. 
Steele,  Jno.  Hendricks,  W.  Y.  Allen,  Jesse  L.  Williams,  Jno.  M.  Worrell, 
Alex.  McPheeters,  E.  W.  Wright,  Levi  Hughs,  J.  S.  Weaver,  Wm.  A. 
Ustick,  James  Blake,  A.  B.  McKee,  W.  B.  Spence,  D.  D.  McKee,  Jno.  Milli- 
gan,  Cyrus  Falconer,  Sam'l  S.  Potter,  Wm.  Bishop,  J.  H.  McCampbell. 


94 


TO  PROFESSOR  JARED  M.  STONE. 

Cannot  remain  professor  in  Seminary,  unless  he  ivill  ~be  silent 
on  Slavery  question.  "'I'd  rather  ~be  a  dog  and  ~bay  the 
moon'  than  a  professor  in  such  a  Seminary". 

New  Albany,  Ind.,  10  Aug.  1857. 
My  dear  Brother  Stone: 

Your  favor  of  July  30th  reached  me  the  day  I  went  to  Han 
over.  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  your  health.  May  your  shadow  and 
that  of  your  University  never  grow  less!  For  myself,  I  am  sup 
plying  Dr.  Stevenson's  place  here,  until  the  Synods  meet  this 
Fall;  after  that  I  know  not  yet  where  I  shall  be;  perhaps  I  may 
remain  here  longer,  perhaps  not. 

As  for  our  seminary  at  Chicago,  I  fear  from  late  information, 
that  all  is  lost.  Brother  Spring,  etc.,  have  gone  over  horse,  foot 
and  dragoons  to  Dr.  Kice.  He  has  been  called  to  the  North 
Church  in  Chicago;  will  probably  go;  and  his  design  is  to  place 
the  seminary  under  the  Assembly ;  or  eject  us,  and  place  safe  men 
at  its  head.  Of  course  he  is  the  safest  man  in  the  northwest. 
Should  a  majority  of  the  Synods  sustain  this  movement,  the  semi 
nary  will  be  as  safe  as  that  of  Columbia,  S.  C.  Perhaps  there 
may  be  a  new  controversy  and  then  a  division;  and  all  will  be 
dead  as  a  door  nail. 

The  ground  taken,  as  I  understand  it,  by  the  leading  influ 
ences  at  Chicago  is,  that  the  seminary,  and  its  professors  are  to 
be  entirely  silent  on  the  slavery  question;  to  believe  nothing,  do 
nothing.  You  know  me  well  enough  to  need  no  assurance  that 
"I'd  rather  be  a  dog  and  bay  the  moon  than"  a  professor  in  such 
a  seminary.  The  plan  is  to  put  the  seminary  under  the  General 
Assembly,  vacating  the  chairs,  of  course;  and  then  no  danger  of 
MacMaster's  election  or  mine.  I  would,  for  the  sake  of  the 
seminary,  and  for  the  regard  I  have  had  and  still  strive  to  enter 
tain  for  our  good  brethren  at  Chicago,  that  all  this  were  false; 
but  I  have  evidence  that  will  not  permit  me  to  doubt  its  truth. 
McCormick,  the  Reaper  man,  and  a  warm  friend  of  Senator 
Douglas,  has  offered  $2,000  a  year  toward  Dr.  Rice's  salary,  if 
the  church  will  give  $3,000  more.  I  learn  to-day  that  Dr.  Rice 
preached  in  Chicago  yesterday,  and  will  probably  accept  the  call 
which  has  been  given. 

It  is  painful  to  think  that  such  is  to  be  the  end  of  all  our 
efforts.  But  God  reigns,  and  will  bring  order  out  of  confusion. 
For  my  own  part,  I  have  never  accepted  the  professorship  ten 
dered  me ;  and  did  not  intend  to  do  so,  until  I  should  see  whether 
the  Synods  would  sustain  the  acts  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 
While  I  am  not,  and  never  was  disposed  to  divide  the  church  on 
tte  slavery  question,  or  anything  else;  or  to  ride  it  as  a  hobby, 
forgetful  of  the  many  other  questions  which  invite  attention,  I 

95 


can  never  consent  to  be  dumb  at  the  bidding  of  any  Board,  clique, 
or  party  in  church  or  state. 

You  ask  me  what  I  think  of  Fullerton's  suggestion.    Certain 
ly  I  feel  deeply  grieved  in  view  of  the  present  lamentable  declen 
sion  of  our  church  regarding  slavery ;  and  should  our  own  north 
western  Synods  virtually  declare  that  hostility  to  slavery,  how 
ever  expressed,  is  enough  to  place  a  man  under  the  ban  of  the 
church,  I  shall  feel  still  more  deeply  the  humiliation  of  our  con 
dition;  seeing  that  in  the  lowest  deep,  a  lower  still  opens  to  de 
vour  us.    And  yet  I  am  not  prepared  to  abandon  the  church  of 
my  fathers.    Rather  let  all  who  would  rescue  her  from  the  thral 
dom  of  the  Slave  Power  unite  in  such  measures  as  may,  with  the 
divine  blessing,  awaken  again  the  dying  spark  of  her  former  love 
of  liberty.    What  these  measures  may  be,  remains  to  be  consid 
ered  when  an  opportunity  for  action  shall  present  itself. 

I  cannot  say  certainly  that  I  shall  visit  Iowa  this  fall. 
Should  developments  at  Chicago  render  it  necessary,  I  may  do 
so ;  and  will  advise  you  in  time. 

FROM  REV.  JOHN  A.  STEELE. 

Dr.  Rice  secures  the  chair  of  Dr.  MacMaster. 

Grand  View,  111.,  Sept.  18,  1857. 
Dear  Brother: 

Since  returning  from  Chicago,  I  have  learned  some  things 
that  I  ought  perhaps  to  advise  you  of.  I  am  not  allowed  to  use 
the  name  of  my  informant.  I  saw  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice's  dispatch  from 
St.  Louis.  It  contained  the  words,  "Secure  if  possible  the  chair 
of  Theology."  * 

I  think  you  will  find  that  what  you  did  by  way  of  compro 
mise  will  embolden  him  to  ask  more.  Yours  truly, 

JNO.  A.  STEELE. 

Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  L.  Rice.     Sketch  of  his  life  and  anti-slavery 
and  other  activities.     His  publications  and  principles. 

NOTE  1.     This  was  the  chair  occupied  by  Dr.  MacMaster. 

NOTE  2.  Dr.  Rice  claimed  this  dispatch  was  worded  thus  wholly :  "you 
had  better  insist  on  the  chair  of  Theology  ;"  and  he  gave  this  in  explanation 
and  extenuation  of  the  message,— "if  my  election  was  designed  to  give  con 
fidence  to  those  who  were  dissatisfied,  it  was  obviously  essential  that  I 
should  occupy  one  of  the  chairs  in  which  the  subject  of  slavery,  if  at  all 
discussed,  would  properly  come  up".  (Pamphlet  entitled  "North  Western 
Theological  Seminary",  published  and  signed  by  Nathan  L.  Rice.) 

NOTE  3.  Rev.  Nathan  Lewis  Rice,  D.  D.,  the  son  of  Gabriel  and  Phebe 
(Garrald)  Rice,  was  born  in  Garard  Co.  Kentucky,  in  1807;  entered  Cen 
ter  College,  Danville,  Ky.,  in  1826 ;  began,  while  there,  the  study  of  theol 
ogy  under  Dr.  Gideon  Blackburn,  then  President  of  that  Institution,  and 
was  licensed  to  preach  at  the  age  of  twenty.  He,  with  his  brother,  also 


a  minister  of  bright  promise,  who  died  at  an  untimely  age,  grew  up  large 
ly  under  the  tutelage  and  influence  of  Rev.  James  C.  Barnes.  Dr.  Rice 
passed  his  next  two  years  at  Princeton  Seminary,  and  took  his  first  pas 
toral  charge  in  1832,  at  Bardstown,  Ky.  Here  he  founded  a  Female  Semi 
nary,  and  edited  the  "Western  Herald,"  afterwards  the  "Protestant  Her- 
ald",which  became  merged  into  the  "Presbyterian  Herald"  at  Louisville. 
In  1840,  he  became  pastor  at  Paris,  Ky.,  and  while  so  engaged,  during 
the  next  four  years,  had  a  debate  with  Dr.  Fanning  of  Nashville,  Tenn., 
and  a  discussion  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  with  Alexander  Campbell,  on  baptism. 
In  May  1844,  he  became  pastor  of  the  Central  Church  in  Cincinnati : 
while  there  he  edited  the  Presbyterian  of  the  West,  since  become  the 
Herald  and  Presbyter;  also  held  debates  with  the  late  Archbishop  Pur- 
cell,  (not  then  Archbishop),  on  Catholicism;  and  with  Rev.  J.  Blanchard, 
then  pastor  of  the  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church  in  Cincinnati,  on  Slavery. 
These  discussions  were  listened  to  by  large  audiences,  and  were  published 
and  widely  read:  the  debate  on  Universalism  continued  eight  evenings; 
that  with  Dr.  Alexander  Campbell,  held  at  Lexington,  for  eighteen  days. 
In  the  debate  with  Dr.  Blanchard,  in  Oct.  1845,  Dr.  Rice  maintained  the 
biblical  sanction  of  the  system  of  American  Slavery.  Dr.  Rice,  June  23, 
1847,  became,  at  the  same  time  with  Dr.  Thomas,  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  New  Albany  Theological  Seminary.  In  1853,  he  re 
moved  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  to  become  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  while  there  edited  the  "St.  Louis  Presbyterian,"  and  pub 
lished  his  works  on  "Baptism,"  "The  Signs  of  the  Times,"  "Immortality 
of  the  Soul,"  and  "Ten  Letters  on  Slavery :"  and  he  was  made  Moderator 
of  the  General  Assembly,  which  met  at  Nashville,  in  1855.  In  1857,  he  was 
called  to  the  North  Church  in  Chicago,  and  while  here  founded  and  edited 
"The  Expositor,"  since  merged  into  the  "Interior,"  and  was  instrumental 
in  locating  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary,  to  which  he  was  elected 
professor  of  Theology  by  the  General  Assembly,  then  in  session  at  Indian 
apolis  in  1859.  In  1861,  he  went  to  the  Fifth  Avenue  Church,  N.  Y.  City, 
(now  Dr.  John  Hall's).  In  1867,  he  resigned  this  pastorate,  but  after 
two  years  recuperation,  became  President  of  Westminster  -College,  Fulton, 
Mo.  In  1874,  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Theology  in  Danville  Sem., 
and  while  holding  this  position  died,  June  11,  1877. 

The  foregoing  is  the  meagre  outline  of  a  wonderfully  active  and  in 
dustrious  life.  Perhaps  it  is  proper  and  best  here  to  say  nothing  more 
about  Dr.  Nathan  L.  Rice,  further  than  to  define  and  express  his  attitude 
as  a  biblical  defender  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  by  some  quotations  of 
what  he  saw  fit  to  write  and  print  in  the  controversy  that  so  greatly 
agitated  the  church.  He  was  a  voluminous  writer  and  manent  librl 
scripti. 

"If  I  buy  a  man,  he  is  mine  so  far  as  his  services  are  concerned". 
(Debate  on  Slavery  held  in  Cincinnati  with  Rev.  J.  Blanchard,  in  Octo 
ber  1845,  p.  106). 

"I  have  proved  that  God  did  give  the  Jews  express  permission  to 
buy  and  hold  slaves.  I  am  under  no  obligation  to  assign  the  reason  why 
God  gave  the  Jews  permission  to  buy  and  hold  slaves.  I  have  proved 
the  fact ;  and  that  is  sufficient  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  the  abolitionists 
false.  Yet  I  will  give  what  was,  as  I  suppose,  the  reason.  Doubtless  he 
intended  that  in  this  way  degraded  heathen  should  be  made  acquainted 
with  the  blessed  religion  by  which  they  might  be  made  happier  on  earth 
and  might  secure  eternal  life".  (Debate  on  Slavery). 

"Many  odious  charges,  as  you  know,  were  brought  against  the  Apos 
tles  of  Christ:  and  yet,  though  slavery  existed  in  its  most  odious  form 
throughout  all  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire,  they  never  were  charged  with 
being  abolitionists".  (Debate  on  Slavery). 

"In  the  first  place,  no  Christian  will  deny  that  it  is  infinitely  more 
important  that  the  slaves  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and  Satan 
than  from  temporal  slavery. 

97 


"The  actual  tendency  of  abolitionism  is  to  perpetuate,  not  to  abolish 
slavery,  and  to  aggravate  all  its  evils;  and  especially  to  take  away  a 
preached  Gospel  from  master  and  slave".  (Debate  with  Blanchard,  p. 
199). 

"The  last  warm  debate  on  slavery  in  the  Cincinnati  Synod  was  on  a 
paper  introduced  by  Dr.  MacMaster,  one  design  of  which  was  to  condemn 
the  action  of  the  Assembly  of  1845.  We  can't  approve  his  appointment 
(as  a  Professor  in  New  Albany  Seminary),  while  he  holds  these  views. 
We  deem  it,  therefore,  of  the  first  importance  that  our  Professors  of  Theol 
ogy  take  the  scriptural  view  of  slavery".  (Editorial  in  Pres.  of  the  West, 
Cinti.,  Nov.  1,  1849). 

"The  golden  rule — "Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to 
you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them" — does  not  forbid  slaveholding  under  all  cir 
cumstances.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  not  a  few  instances  in  which  it 
makes  men  slaveholders ;  because  by  becoming  such,  they  can  greatly 
improve  the  condition  of  a  suffering  fellow  creature".  (Debate  with 
Blanchard,  p.  259). 

The  sentiment  last  above  quoted  is  worthy  of  Geo.  White- 
field  who,  early  in  Colonial  days,  went  to  England  to  get  a  permit 
to  introduce  slaves  on  the  then  free  soil  of  Georgia. 

"I  should  think  myself  highly  favored"  said  he,  "if  I  could 
purchase  a  good  number  of  them,  in  order  to  make  their  lives 
comfortable,  and  lay  a  foundation  for  breeding  up  their  posterity 
in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord."  (Matlack's  Anti- 
Slavery  Struggle,  p.  30.)— A.  A.  T. 

TO  PROFESSOR  JARED  M.  STONE. 

Dr.  Thomas  goes  out  of  his  professorship,  and  gives  the  reasons. 
Reviews  slavery's  demand  on  the  church  in  the  North. 

New  Albany,   Ind.,  23rd   Sept.  1857. 
My  Dear  Brother  Stone: 

It  wrould  give  me  great  pleasure  to  meet  you  at  Dubuque ;  but  I 
cannot  go  there.  In  fact,  I  have  resolved  not  to  attend  any  Synodical 
meeting  this  Fall.  I  have  always  felt  that  there  was  an  appearance  of 
self-seeking,  most  opposite  to  my  habits  and  character,  in  the  course  of 
events  last  Fall.  Two  or  three  of  us  originated  the  project  of  a  new 
Seminary.  We  published  a  Circular — prepared  a  Constitution — presented 
it  personally  before  seven  Synods.  A  Board  of  Directors  met  at  Chicago, 
in  accordance  with  that  Constitution,  and  their  first  act  was  to  elect  Dr. 
MacMaster  and  me  as  Professors.  Now  God  knows,  and  the  Board  of 
Directors  know,  that  we  had  nothing  to  do  with  that  election ;  that  we 
used  no  means,  direct  or  indirect,  toward  such  a  result.  I  need  not  as 
sure  you  of  this ;  but  there  are  many,  who  do  not  know  us,  nor  the  facts 
in  the  case,  to  whom  these  things  would  wear,  at  least  the  appearance, 
of  management  to  secure  personal  promotion.  Now  that  opposition  has 
been  made  to  our  election;  and  a  course  of  measures  has  been  adopted, 
the  obvious,  and  in  some  cases  avowed,  design  of  which  is  to  eject  us 
from  the  Seminary;  I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  it  is  becoming  for  us 
to  traverse  the  north  west,  attending  Synods  to  which  we  do  not  belong, 
for  the  purpose  of  vindicating  the  act  of  the  Board  by  which  we  were 
elected.  I  know  very  well  that  the  opposition  made  to  us  is  grounded 
on  our  anti-slavery  principles;  so  that  a  defence  of  ourselves  would  be 
really  a  battle  fought  for  those  principles;  or  rather,  for  freedom  of 
thought,  and  of  speech,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  these  Free  states. 
Strange,  passing  strange,  that  such  a  statement  should  be  true;  and  yet 

98 


it  is  true  to  the  letter.  Men  are  attempting  to  place  under  the  ban  of 
the  church  all  who  dare  whisper  a  syllable  against  that  accursed  system 
of  slavery  under  which  our  whole  country  groans.  To  use  late  language 
of  the  Philadelphia  Presbyterian,  such  men  are  already  "spotted".  Still, 
this  does  not  alter  the  case.  The  Synods  know  these  facts;  our  whole 
church  know  it;  and  if  there  remain  among  us  a  single  spark  of  our 
ancient  character,  the  Northwest  will  indignantly  spurn  the  bit — the  gag. 
They  should  not  need — they  should  not  allow — any  defence  from  us, 
against  such  charges.  If  they  will  not,  of  themselves,  repel  the  pro- 
slavery  spirit — it  is  not  worth  while  to  defend  ourselves.  If  they  will, 
it  is  not  necessary.  No !  I  shall  studiously  absent  myself  from  every 
Synod ;  even  from  our  own.  If  they  think  the  Board  did  wrong  in 
appointing  me,  let  them  say  so.  I  shall  not  be  distressed  about  it.  If 
they  confirm  that  appointment,  my  duty  will  be  plain. 

But  you  ought  to  attend  your  Synod ;  and  I  hope  that  no  considera 
tion  will  prevent  you.  The  question  is  to  be  decided  whether  the  whole 
future  ministry  of  the  north  west,  in  our  denomination,  is  to  be  leavened 
with  a  pro-slavery  spirit,  or  not: — whether  hostility  to  slavery  is,  or  it 
not,  to  be  forbidden  among  Presbyterians  of  the  Free  states :  whether 
submission  and  subscription  to  slave-holding  supremacy,  in  church  and 
state,  shall  be  a  sine  qua  non  in  the  region  covered  by  the  ordinance  of 
1787. 

Your  Synod  is  to  vote  upon  that  question,  at  Dubuque,  during  the 
first  week  in  October.  Dr.  Rice  will  be  there  to  assist  in  the  decision. 
And  the  further  question  is,  Will  Brother  Stone,  an  anti-slavery  man  of 
thirty  years  standing— a  Professor  in  the  State  University  of  Republican 
Iowa — a  full-blooded  Yankee — and  what  is  more,  a  man — homo — (how 
square  and  solid  and  compact  and  independent  a  look  that  word  Homo 
has;  as  if  it  could  stand  by  itself,  and  feared  nobody)  ;  will  Jared  M. 
Stone  be  at  Thermopylae,  to  make  his  mark  upon  the  Persians?  I  shall 
look  for  an  answer  from  Dubuque. 
I  :  i 

TO  REV.  JOS.  G.  MONFORT,  D.  D.,  EDITOR  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN 

OF    THE    WEST. 

Dr.  Thomas  agrees  with  Dr.  MacMaster,  but  will  not  contest  the 
issue.  Finds  no  call  to  speak  further.  Declines  Dr.  Jos.  G. 
Monfort's  request  that  he  publish  something.  His  clear  and 
brief  revieic  of  the  slavery  contest  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  His  finest  letter  on  the  subject.  "I  sucked  in 
enmity  to  slavery  with  my  mother's  milk.  I  was  taught  to 
hate  it  on  my  father's  knee". 

Confidential.  Pardon  the  seeming  egotism  of  this  hasty  letter:  yon 
asked  me  for  an  expression  of  my  own  views  and  sentiments.  But  I  write 
for  you,  not  for  the  public. 

New   Albany,   28   Sept.,   1857. 
My  dear  Brother  Monfort : 

I  know  you  will  be  disappointed ;  but  I  trust  you  will  not  be  offended, 
because  I  send  you  no  communication  for  the  Synod  about  slavery.  I 
must,  however,  be  guided  by  my  own  judgment  of  propriety  in  the  case; 
and,  after  all  the  thought  which  I  can  bestow  on  the  subject,  I  am  not 
convinced  either  that  I  have  any  adequate  occasion  for  writing  such  an 
expose  of  my  views;  or  that,  if  written,  it  could  accomplish  any  valuable 
result;  while  it  is  certain  that,  under  present  circumstances,  it  would  be 
liable  to  serious  misconstruction.  I  agree,  substantially,  with  the  views 
presented  to  the  Board  at  Chicago,  by  Dr.  MacMaster.  Had  I  been  per- 

99 


mitted  to  attend,  I  should  have  offered  a  similar  paper.  But  the  fact  has 
been  publicly  announced  in  the  newspapers  that  I  concur  with  him.  To 
repeat  the  same  statements  over  my  own  name  would  be  unnecessary. 
Should  my  representation  of  principles  be  thought  to  vary  materially  from 
his,  we  should  appear  in  an  unpleasant  attitude  toward  each  other.  Were 
I  to  offer  what  might  prove  a  more  favorable  and  popular  view  of  the 
matter,  I  should  seem  to  be  indirectly  soliciting  the  suffrages  of  the  Syn 
ods.  The  truth  is,  I  find  no  call  to  speak  now.  The  Board  has  not  asked 
for  my  views ;  they  know  them  and  are  satisfied.  The  misrepresentations 
of  the  St.  Louis  Presbyterian,  (See  Aug.  27),  cannot  be  prevented  by  any 
statements  of  mine.  Its  errors  have  been  repeatedly  corrected  by  the 
Presbyterian  of  the  West;  and  the  correction  is  denounced  as  dishonest 
concealment  of  my  actual  opinions.  The  Synods  know,  or  may  know,  the 
true  ground  that  I  occupy.  It  was  taken  twenty  years  ago. 

My  views  were  first  published  in  1838,  republished  and  widely  circu 
lated  in  1843 ;  and  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1846,  in  a*^  speech 
of  which  Dr.  Hodge  speaks  in  the  Princeton  Review  of  that  year.  From 
that  ground  I  have  never  varied  and  never  expect  to.  I  do  not  mean  that 
my  interpretation  of  every  particular  Scripture,  especially  in  my  Review 
of  Junkin,  remains  unaltered;  but  the  general  principles  I  adhere  to. 
And  when  I  write  again  on  the  question,  I  desire  to  write  as  I  did  before, 
untrammeled  by  its  relations  to  any  personal  concernment  of  mine.  I 
am  fully  persuaded  that  with  the  vast  majority  of  our  church,  at  least 
with  the  free  states,  there  is  a  substantial  agreement  as  to  principles  on 
the  slavery  question.  The  difference  is  as  to  the  application  of  the  prin 
ciple.  All  agree  that  slavery  is  inconsistent  with  the  Gospel,  and  ought  to 
be  abolished  as  soon  as  practicable.  Most  men  will  subscribe  the  senti 
ment  of  John  Randolph,  when  he  said  "I  envy  not  the  head  or  the  heart 
of  the  Northern  man  who  will  defend  slavery  on  principle."  But  there 
are  too  many,  I  fear,  (how  many,  and  whether  they  are  a  majority,  God 
only  knows),  who  are  resolved  not  to  discuss  the  subject;  not  to  aid  in 
its  discussion ;  not  to  speak  of  it ;  if  possible,  not  to  think  of  it.  It  never 
appears  in  their  pulpits;  is  never  heard  in  their  prayers.  They  have  per 
suaded  themselves  thatN  they  are  in  no  way  responsible  for  slavery ;  that 
they  have  no  call  to  meddle  with  it :  and  then,  it  is  a  "vexed  question"  ;  a 
vexatious  question;  and  it  troubles  our  Israel  as  Elijah  troubled  Ahab. 
They  regard  the  whole  duty  of  Northern  ministers  and  Northern  Chris 
tians,  so  far  as  slavery  is  concerned,  to  be  summarily  comprehended  in  the 
one  word,  mum!  Some  there  are  who  seem  determined  to  oppose  and  de 
nounce  and  destroy  (ecclesiastically)  every  man  who  moves  a  wing,  or 
opens  the  mouth,  or  peeps  (Isa.  10: 14)  about  it  in  any  relation  whatever. 

There  is  another  portion  of  our  church  who,  fully  adopting  the  avowed 
principles  of  the  church  as  expressed  in  her  various  public  acts,  and 
cordially  detesting  slavery,  wish  to  see  these  principles  carried  out,  made 
efficient.  They  wish  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  bring  her  mighty  moral 
power  to  bear  upon  the  evil  of  slavery ;  not  fanatically ;  not  in  the  way  of 
mad  denunciation  of  men  and  brethren ;  not  by  rending  the  body  of  Christ ; 
but  rationally,  soberly,  wisely;  and  yet  efficiently.  They  desire  her  testi 
mony  against  this  enormous  and  rapidly  growing  and  rampant  evil  to  be 
no  longer  a  dead  letter ;  an  idle,  antiquated  testimony,  which  no  man  heeds, 
and  for  the  open  disregard  of  which  the  church  itself  is  unconcerned ;  but 
quick,  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword,  as  being  the 
testimony  which  God  himself  has  commissioned  his  church  to  utter  in  his 
name. 

Doubtless  there  may  be  some  of  this  latter  party  who  are  for  push 
ing  matters  too  fast ;  who  do  not  appreciate  the  practical  difficulties  involv 
ed  in  the  eradication  of  an  evil  which  has  been  taking  root  for  centuries. 
Perhaps  a  few  would  even  rend  the  church,  to  be  rid  of  the  responsibility 
for  slavery.  But  the  responsibility  cannot  thus  be  got  rid  of,  even  were 

100 


both  the  church  and  the  Union  divided.    As  one  people  we  have  shared  in 
the  guilt;  and  come  when  and  how  it  may,  we  shall  share  in  the  penalty. 

Now,  no  explanations,  no  logical  definitions,  no  hair-splitting  distinc 
tions  are  available  to  harmonize  these  parties.  The  difference  lies  in  the 
animus;  not  in  the  understanding.  The  men  who  are  for  doing  nothing, 
saying  nothing,  caring  nothing,  thinking  nothing ;  but  simply  for  minding 
their  own  business,  as  they  say,  will  not  object  to  your  principles;  they 
are  not  offended  by  them :  they  agree  with  you  about  them :  it  is  the  utter 
ance  of  the  principles  which  offends  them.  You  may  hold  what  views 
you  please,  if  you  will  but  cease  to  agitate  the  church ;  i.  e.,  cease  to  preach 
them,  teach  them,  write  them,  talk  about  them.  (See  Acts  IV:  17,  18.) 

For  myself,  I  belong  to  the  party — no!  I  belong  to  no  party:  I  am 
one  of  those  who  hate  slavery  with  a  perfect  hatred ;  I  say  slavery,  not 
the  slaveholder.  There  are  legal  slaveholders  whom  I  know  and  love 
and  honor,  as  brethren  in  Christ  Jesus:  and  shall  I  reject  those  whom 
Christ  receives?  Quid  bonum.  What  if  I  did?  There  may  be  men  who 
even  maintain  the  essential  rightfulness  of  slavery,  and  simply  contemn 
its  abuses ;  who  yet  evince  the  sinceriey  of  a  Christian  profession ;  just  as 
there  were  (and  are)  men  who  maintained  on  principle  the  dreadful  des 
potism  of  the  Papacy ;  like  Bernard,  and  Fenelon,  and  Pascal ;  who  were 
not  only  Christians,  but  eminently  holy  men.  I  do  not  presume  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  men;  but  the  system  of  slavery,  I  find  no  hesitation  in 
pronouncing  anti-republican,  anti-scriptural,  unrighteous,  earthly,  sensual, 
devilish.  And  I  hesitate  not  to  condemn  the  conduct  of  the  slaveholder,  so 
far  as  he  may  voluntarily,  and  for  selfish  ends  sustain  that  relation ;  while 
I  do  not  condemn  him. 

From  the  depths  of  my  soul,  I  loathe  and  abhor  the  system  which 
treats  a  man  as  a  thing.  In  its  essential  nature,  it  is  a  standing  lie,  a 
practical  lie.  I  sucked  in  enmity  to  slavery  with  my  mother's  milk.  I 
was  taught  to  hate  it  on  my  father's  knee ;  a  father  who  left  even  England 
that  he  might  enjoy  more  freedom  in  thpse  western  wilds.  The  renewal 
of  my  heart  by  divine  grace  did  but  strengthen  my  inborn  hatred  of  des 
potism.  Twenty  years  study  of  the  Bible  has  given  me  the  stronger  as 
surance  that  it  condemns  tyranny,  and  requires  what  is  "just  and  equal." 
I  wish  to  see  our  church  animated  by  the  spirit  of  the  Bible  toward 
slavery,  not  blindly  denouncing  men,  but  boldly  and  ardently  maintaining 
principles.  At  present,  it  is  all  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  dare  do,  to 
point  to  the  Act  of  1818,  and  say,  "We  uttered  our  views  some  forty  years 
since!"  (Compare  2  Cor.  VII:  11).  Is  this  our  zeal  to  approve  ourselves 
clear  in  this  matter?  What  we  need  is  not  nicely  defined  statements  of 
principle ;  but  love  to  God  and  man,  zeal  for  the  truth, — heart,  soul. 
Our  church,  I  fear,  is  lifted  with  pride  of  position,  which  she  is  unwilling 
to  compromise  by  opening  her  mouth  for  the  dumb.  Her  numbers,  her 
wealth,  her  worldly  influence,  her  vast  extent,  her  rapid  growth,  these  are 
her  pride  and  boast.  Will  not  God  blast  this  gourd  of  ours?  But  I  must 
stop.  I  set  out  to  write  a  note  of  apology.  Perhaps  I  have  said  enough  to 
satisfy  you  that  though  all  things  are  lawful  for  me,  all  are  not  expedient ; 
among  others,  that  of  writing  to  the  Synods  about  slavery. 

Ever  yours,  THO.  E.  THOMAS. 

TO  MR.  NATHANIEL  FISHER,  HIS  FATHER-IN-LAW, 

The  church  ready  to  sacrifice  tier  principles.  "The  whole  south 
ern  press  of  our  church  connection  denounced  the  Semi 
nary" 

New  Albany,  Ind.,  2  Oct.,  1857. 

*  *  *  *  As  for  our  Chicago  Seminary,  I  do  not  know  how  it  will  re 
sult.  The  question  of  slavery,  which  disturbs  everything  in  Church  and 
State,  has  connected  itself  with  our  Seminary.  Dr.  MacMaster  and  I,  and 

101 


all  who  were  chiefly  concerned  in  originating  the  effort,  are  known  as 
anti-slavery  men.  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice,  of  St.  Louis,  a  very  active  and  leading 
man  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  made  war  upon  us  from  the  first,  as 
endeavoring  to  establish  an  abolition  school.  As  he  edited  a  religious  news 
paper,  circulating  over  a  considerable  portion  of  our  region,  he  has  been 
able  to  obtain  a  good  many  adherents,  and  quite  recently,  chiefly  through 
a  very  wealthy  man  in  Chicago,  who  is  an  active  pro-slavery  Democrat, 
Dr.  Rice  has  removed  from  St.  Louis  to  Chicago,  where  he  is  to  be  pastor 
of  a  church.  But  it  is  not  the  influence  of  Dr.  Rice  alone  which  has  pro 
duced  this  opposition.  The  whole  Southern  press  of  our  church  connection, 
denounced  the  Seminary ;  and  every  Northern  paper,  but  one,  treated  it 
coldly,  or  distrustfully.  For  almost  a  year,  every  influence  which  could 
be  brought  to  bear  against  it  has  been  exerted;  and  the  aim  has  been  to 
bring  the  Seminary,  if  it  must  prosper,  under  the  absolute  control  of  the 
General  Assembly;  supposing  as  its  opponents  do,  that  if  controlled  by 
that  body,  Dr.  MacMaster  and  I  would  certainly  be  got  rid  of.  There  has 
been  a  good  deal  of  discussion  about  the  matter  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
church ;  and  great  effort  will  be  made  to  carry  our  Synods  this  fall,  so  as 
to  secure  our  removal.  I  shall  not  attend  any  Synod,  but  leave  them  to  do 
just  what  they  think  proper.  I  feel  no  personal  anxiety  in  the  matter. 
The  whole  opposition  rests  upon  our  opinions  about  slavery.  I  have  no 
objection  to  be  denounced  on  that  ground;  and  if  our  church  is  willing 
to  sacrifice  her  principles  on  that  subject,  I  shall  lament  not  the  personal 
bearing  of  that  action  on  myself,  but  the  humiliation  of  the  church  herself. 
The  Synods  meet  this  month.  The  probability  is  that  they  will  be  divided 
three  against  four.  In  that  case,  nothing  will  be  done  at  Chicago,  for 
several  years,  in  the  way  of  building  the  Seminary. 

FROM  HIS  MOTHER,  ON  HIS  BIRTHDAY. 

My  very  dear  Son:  Wilmington,  O.,  Dec.  23d,  1857. 

I  have  purposely  delayed  answering  your  kind  and  interesting  letter 
till  to-day ;  the  date  of  which  brings  to  my  recollection  an  eventful  period. 
Like  Hannah  of  old,  I  had  asked  for  a  sou;  and  promised,  if  my  request 
were  granted,  I  would  train  him  up  for  the  service  of  the  sanctuary. 
The  Lord  heard  my  secret  prayer;  and  granted  my  request;  but  not  till 
he  had  severely  tried  my  faith  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  affliction.  Six  weeks 
after  being  called  to  resign  my  dear  Elizabeth,  the  Lord  made  up  the 
breach  by  giving  me  a  son. 

On  receiving  the  blessing,  the  covenant  engagement  was  renewed,  and 
an  ebenezer  of  gratitude  erected  in  the  hearts  of  the  parents.  After  a 
sincere  dedication,  mutually,  at  the  family  altar,  he  was  taken  to  the  sanc 
tuary,  and  there,  before  and  in  the  presence  of  a  very  large  congregation, 
was  very  solemnly  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God,  by  his  father,  in  bap 
tism  ;  holding  him  in  his  arms,  and  calling  upon  the  congregation  to  wit 
ness  his  promise  to  train  him  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  devote  him  especially 
for  His  service,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  and  his  willing  acquiescence 
should  he  be  sent  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  But  little  did  we  think  at 
the  time,  that  we  should  accompany  him  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  globe ; 
and  least  of  all,  that  I  should  be  spared  to  witness  him,  for  twenty  years, 
a  faithful  minister  of  the  Gospel  of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  congrat 
ulate  him  upon  his  entrance  on  his  forty-sixth  year.  If  it  be  the  Lord's 
will,  may  you  be  spared  to  testify  His  goodness,  and  constant,  loving 
kindness,  still  manifested  to  you,  and  yours;  and  be  permitted  to  train 
some  of  them  for  similar  service  in  the  Sanctuary. 

May  the  Lord  make  you  eminently  useful  in  bringing  many  souls  to 
glory ! ! 

You  are  aware  of  the  destitution  at  Wilmington,  in  consequence  of  the 
death  of  old  Father  Dickey,  (whose  end  was  peace),  fifty-five  years  a 

102 


preacher  of  righteousness,  forty  years  to  the  people  with  whom  he  died. 
I  suppose  there  will  be  no  stated  preaching  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
for  some  time. 

I  hear  that  in  Seminary  matters  the  war  is  still  going  on;  but  your 
Father  is  at  the  helm,  and  will  bring  all  out  straight  at  the  last. 

My  best  love  to  Lydia  and  all  the  dear  children ;  and  accept  for  your 
self  all  you  wish  from  YOUB  MOTHEB. 

FROM     REV.     J.     M.     WAMPLER,     ASSOCIATE     EDITOR     OF     THE 

PRESBYTER. 

Dr.  Thomas  asked  to  persuade  Dr.  MacMaster  to  silence. 

Cincinnati,   O.,    April   23,    1859. 

I  want  to  write  a  few  words  to  you  which  appear  to  me  of  consider 
able  importance.  Dr.  MacMaster  has  been  here  this  morning,  and  will  see 
you,  perhaps,  before  this  letter  reaches  you.  We,  of  course,  had  some  talk 
about  Seminary  matters.  We  are  approaching  the  last  struggle  and  crisis 
in  this  matter ;  and  a  great  deal  may  depend  upon  apparently  trivial  mat 
ters.  The  signs  of  the  times  are  becoming  more  and  more  favorable,  as  I 
think  you  will  see  in  our  next.  So  far,  the  prospect  is  for  at  triumph  over 
Dr.  Rice  and  those  who  follow  his  lead,  but  our  triumph  will  be  complete 
only  in  the  election  of  Dr.  MacMaster,  while  at  the  same  time,  we  will 
receive  a  professor  second  at  least  to  none  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  If 
we  fail  in  the  last  particular,  it  will  be,  as  our  former  failures  have  been, 
through  his  own  imprudence:  and  this  is  the  point  I  write  to  you  about. 
He  has  just  been  telling  Dr.  Monfort  and  myself  some  of  the  things  he 
means  to  say.  Even  if  themselves  proper,  if  said  by  him  in  the  way  he 
usually  says  such  things,  he  is  gone,  and  we  and  right  are  defeated. 

Having  forestalled  Dr.  Monfort  with  these  designs  of  his,  of  course  it 
is  too  late  for  him  to  dissuade  him ;  and  as  for  me.  I  never  have  been  his 
counsellor.  But  you  and  he  have  been  mutual  advisers,  and  I  think  you,  if 
any  one,  can  influence  him. 

Now  I  do  hope,  if  you  approve  my  suggestion,  you  will  urge  it  upon 
him.  Don't  say  you  can't  do  anything  with  him :  you  can, — you  can  get 
him  to  do  anything  you  insist  upon,  and  I  beg  of  you,  do  it.  If  you  suc 
ceed,  the  day  is  ours. 

NOTE.  In  my  father's  diary  appears  this  entry:  "April  27, 
1859.  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D.  MacMaster  called  and  spent  the  day  in 
conversation  about  the  coming  General  Assembly  and  the  North 
west  Theological  Seminary.  Urged  him  not  to  engage  in  any 
controversy  about  it  before  the  Assembly;  nor  even  to  defend 
himself  and  friends  against  the  assaults  of  Dr.  Rice ;  but  to  leave 
the  whole  matter,  under  God,  in  the  hands  of  the  Assembly.  He 
seemed  persuaded  himself  that  the  way  was  closed  against  his 
personal  participation  in  debate." 

TO  REV.  E.   D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D. 

Dr.  Thomas  declines  to  go  the  Assembly  on  the  Slavery  question. 

Dayton,  O.,  16  May,  1859. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

Having  been  unusually  engaged  during  the  past  week,  since  the  receipt 
of  yours  of  the  19th  inst.,  I  have  not  been  able  to  lay  my  hand  on  the  ar- 

103 


tide  you  request,  until  this  morning.  I  enclose  it,  and  hope  you  will  pre 
serve  it,  as  I  may  some  day  have  occasion  to  use  it.  If  I  find  a  convenient 
opportunity,  I  will  send  all  my  papers  relating  to  this  subject  to  Indian 
apolis.  You  may  have  use  for  them ;  but  I  hope  you  will  not. 

As  to  the  resignation  of  my  quasi  professorship,  which  you  refer  to, 
I  am  entirely  resigned  to  whatever  Providence  may  permit  the  Assembly 
to  do ;  and  I  think  no  further  resignation  necessary. 

Our  mutual  friend,  P.  P.  Lowe,  Esq.,  has  recently  returned  from  a 
trip  to  Philadelphia.  On  his  return  he  travelled  with  Dr.  Hoge  of  Colum 
bus,  and  had  much  conversation  with  him  on  seminary  matters,  as  likely 
to  be  handled  by  the  Assembly.  Dr.  Hoge  expressed  his  intention  to  at 
tend  the  Assembly,  (as  a  lobby  member,  I  suppose),  and  said  he  should 
favor  the  location  of  the  Seminary  at  Chicago.  He  stated  that  $100,000 
would  be  funded  then,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  professors,  and  ten 
acres  of  land  given  for  a  site.  Mr.  Lowe  inquired  the  reasons  of  his  oppo 
sition  to  Indianapolis.  He  replied  that  the  movement  for  that  place  was  in 
the  hands  of  Abolitionists.  (I  cannot  say  that  he  used  this  word).  Mr. 
Lowe  asked  the  Doctor  on  what  ground  he  himself  stood  in  respect  to 
slavery.  The  Doctor  answered  that  he  was  an  enemy  to  slavery  and  slav 
ery  extension;  but  that  he  stood  on  the  platform  of  1818.  Mr.  Lowe  re 
plied  that  the  Seminary  men  whom  he  (the  Doctor)  was  opposing,  occu 
pied  the  same  platform.  That  from  long  personal  intercourse  he  could 
testify  for  Dr.  MacMaster ;  and  that  if  he  and  Dr.  Hoge  could  but  compare 
views,  there  would  be  found  no  real  difference  as  far  as  slavery  is  con 
cerned.  Mr.  Lowe  tells  me  that  Dr.  Hoge  seemed  impressed  with  the  con 
versation  ;  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  Dr.  Hoge  could  be  conversed 
with  at  Indianapolis,  his  influence  might  be  thrown  into  the  other  scale. 
What  there  may  be  in  this,  I  cannot  say.  As  Dr.  Rice  and  Dr.  Hoge  were 
associated  in  the  Cincinnati  enterprise,  it  is  not  strange  that  they  should 
sympathize  now ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  Dr.  Hoge,  as  an  old 
pioneer  in  the  West,  will  exert  some  influence  over  the  members  of  the 
Assembly. 

I  should  be  happy  to  meet  you  at  Indianapolis,  during  the  sessions  of 
the  Assembly;  but  in  the  present  posture  of  affairs,  I  cannot  do  so.     Re 
membering  that  the  Lord  reigneth, — I  shall  quietly  wait  the  issue. 
Ever  respectfully  and  affectionately 

Yours  in  Christian  bonds, 

THO.  E.  THOMAS. 


104 


Great  gathering  in  Indianapolis  at  the  Assembly  of  '59  of  pro- 
slavery  men  and  "Gradualists".  Who  was  there:  what  was 
done.  Its  chairman  and  ruling  spirits,  Rice,  Palmer,  Thorn- 
well,  Samuel  R.  Wilson,  Plummer,  Vandyke  and  D.  X. 
Junkin.  They  tell  Dr.  MacMaster  if  he  speaks  he  "commits 
ecclesiastical  suicide".  His  great  speech.  The  last  and  final 
anti-slavery  word  in  the  church,  until  the  ivar.  Description 
of  him  speaking.  His  "lost  sixthly"  and  Dr.  Rice's  ridicule. 
Dr.  MacMaster  is  cast  out;  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice  is  put  in  his 
place. 

This  "issue",  which  my  father  thus  awaited  at  home,  no  one 
appears  to  have  made  any  special  preparation  for,  except  Dr. 
MacMaster  and  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice.  As  in  the  attempt  to  raise  funds 
for  endowment  in  1857,  so  now,  to  the  former  the  times  were 
most  unpropitious ;  for  this  year  may  not  unfairly  be  said  to 
mark  a  low  ebb-point,  unknown  in  former  or  later  years,  of  cour 
age  and  manliness  in  Northern  anti-slavery  sentiment.  The  As 
sembly  met  May  20,  1859,  at  Indianapolis ;  and  had  in  attendance 
more  than  any  ordinary  representation,  both  in  numbers  and 
ability  of  the  leading  pro-slavery  men  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
from  both  the  North  and  South. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  L.  Breckenridge  of  Kentucky  was  Modera 
tor.  A  few  years  before,  he  with  Dr.  E.  P.  Humphrey,  had  man 
fully  defended  the  views  of  Dr.  MacMaster  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  against  the  attacks  of  Dr.  N.  L.  Kice;  but  now  he  "saw 
things  through  a  Kentucky  mist."  Nothing  could  be  more  try 
ing  than  the  position  of  border  state  men,  who,  because  of  their 
character  and  consciences,  were  of  necessity  genuine  opponents 
of  slavery.  Later  on  they  rose  admirably  to  the  occasion,  and  not 
only  supported  the  government,  but  were  foremost  in  bringing 
about  the  extermination  of  slavery  when  opportunity  offered. 
Rut  in  1859,  this  worthy  class,  of  whom  Dr.  Wm.  L.  Breckenridge 
was  a  good  type,  stood  convinced  that  the  duty  of  the  church 
on  this  subject  then,  "was  summarily  comprehended  by  the  word 
mum." 

The  opening  sermon  before  the  Assembly  was  by  Dr.  N.  L. 
Bice. 

105 


The  chairman  of  the  most  important  committee — Bills 
and  Overtures — was  Dr.  Rice.  The  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee  on  Theological  Seminaries  was  Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer, 
of  New  Orleans,  afterward  notorious  for  his  "Vindication  of 
Secession  and  the  South,"  who  said  "The  providential  trust 
of  the  Southern  people  is  to  conserve  and  perpetuate  the  insti 
tution  of  slavery  as  now  existing."  *  The  ruling  spirit  in  this 
Assembly,  and  probably  its  ablest  delegate,  was  Dr.  Thornwell, 
a  professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Columbia,  S.  C., 
who  said  the  government  must  organize  labor;  and  "the  only 
way  in  which  it  can  be  done,  as  a  permanent  arrangement,  is 
by  converting  the  laborer  into  capital ;  that  is,  by  giving  the  em 
ployer  a  right  of  property  in  the  labor  employed ;  in  other  words, 
by  slavery."  So  much  for  the  humanitarianism  and  political 
economy  of  this  distinguished  divine ! 

Following  the  lead  of  and  supporting  these  men,  among  the 
delegates,  were  Dr.  S.  R.  Wilson  of  Cincinnati;*  Dr.  James  H. 
Brooks,  of  St.  Louis;  Dr.  Hoge,  of  Columbus,  O. ;  Dr.  Plummer; 
Dr.  H.  J.  Vandyke;  Rev.  Mr.  Lourie,  and  other  well-known  pro- 
slavery  Presbyterian  ministers.  Dr.  Geo.  Junkin's  brother  was 
there — Dr.  D.  X.  Junkin — who  thought  in  1874  that  abolitionism 
had  reached  its  height  in  1845.  Prof.  D.  H.  Hill,*  then  an  elder 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  teacher  in  a  college  in  North 
Carolina,  and  afterwards  the  left  arm  of  Gen.  Lee  in  the  army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  was  there.  Of  him  and  such  as  he,  this  was 
the  last  Northern  raid  till  Gettysburgh. 

Yet,  most  of  these  men,  and  their  following,  even  at  this  time, 
could  with  difficulty  be  induced  to  consent  to  exclude  Dr.  Mac- 
Master  from  the  Seminary  which  he  had  labored  so  long  and 
faithfully  to  build  up.  Reading  the  utterances  of  his  ministerial 
career,  they  "could  find  no  evil  in  him."  Dr.  J.  G.  Monfort  of 
the  "Herald  and  Presbyter,"  of  Cincinnati,  was  the  most  active 
of  the  friends  of  Dr.  MacMaster  upon  the  floor  of  the  Assembly ; 
and  he  has  told  me  that  Dr.  Thornwell  opposed  the  removal  of 
Dr.  MacMaster  from  his  old  Professorship.  Did  he  feel  that  to 

*  "The  South :  Her  Peril  and  Her  Duty,"  A  Thanksgiving  Day  Sermon 
—Nov.  29,  1860. 

*  Rev.   Dr.   S.  R.  Wilson  published  at  Cincinnati  a  political  sermon 
with  this  motto:  "Blot  out  the  Stars  and  leave  the  Stripes.      Why?"       He 
also  wrote  in  1866  the  Louisville  "Declaration  and  Testimony." 

*  Two  years  before  he  had  published  a  school  text  book,  called  "Ele 
ments  of  Algebra,"  in  which  appears  this  problem:  "The  field  of  battle 
at  Buena  Vista  is  six  and  one-half  miles  from  Saltillo.     Two  Indiana  vol 
unteers  ran  away  from  the  field  of  battle  at  the  same  time:  one  ran  half 
a  mile  per  hour  faster  than  the  other,  and  reached  Saltillo  five  minutes 
and  fifty-four  and  six-elevenths  seconds  sooner  than  the  other.      Required 
their  respective  rates  of  travel." 

106 


do  so  was  unchivalrous?  Or  at  the  aggressions  of  the  slave  power 
across  the  line,  of  which  this  transaction  was  a  fair  sample,  al 
though  of  small  importance  in  itself,  did  he  have  in  his  ears,  as 
a  low  and  distant  hum,  the  rising  indignation  of  the  North? 
This  must  have  two  years  yet  to  gather,  then  it  was  heard  around 
the  world!  Hon.  Jesse  L.  Williams,  of  Ft.  Wayne,  was,  among 
the  delegates,  a  warm  friencl  of  Dr.  MacMaster,  and  he  and  his 
colleagues  had  reason  to  believe  that  Dr.  Rice's  schemes  would 
yet  fail,  provided  Dr.  MacMaster  could  be  induced  to  keep  still. 
But  he  had  not  gone  to  Indianapolis  to  keep  still,  and  no  per 
suasions  could  move  him :  he  had  gone  there  to  "bear  a  testimony" 
against  "a  pusillanimity  which  had  never  yet  failed  to  yield  all 
which  impudence  demanded  of  it;"  to  ask  "when  would  the 
Northwest,  and  the  church  and  the  nation  cease  to  be  a  humiliat 
ing  and  deplorable  spectacle,  but  awaken  as  a  strong  man  from 
sleep,  and  recover  herself  from  the  Circean  cup  of  the  Pro-slavery 
Power,  in  which  it  had  been  so  long  held ;"  to  ask,  "the  defenders 
of  slavery  if  they  were  so  ignorant  as  to  think  that  a  system  such 
as  that  could  be  established  in  this  day  when,  throughout  the 
whole  world,  all  the  old,  long-established  systems  of  robbery  and 
oppression  were  crumbling  in  the  dust;"  and  this  he  did  in  a 
speech,  the  like  of  which  is  not  often  heard  in  any  Assembly. 
When  he  had  finished,  all  possibility  of  his  own  election  had  van 
ished.  The  vote  was  taken,  and  next  morning  my  father,  at 
Dayton,  made  the  following  entry  in  his  Diary : 

"May  30,  1859.  Learned  from  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  to-day  that  Dr. 
Rice  is  elected  Professor  of  Theology  in  Northwestern  Theological  Semi 
nary  by  314  votes ;  Dr.  MacMaster  receiving  only  45,  and  scattering  nine. 
A  wonderful  triumph  of  ambition,  injustice,  dishonesty  and  pro-slavery- 
ism  !  Our  church  is  sold  to  the  South.  But  God  reigns  and  will  order  all 
things  well.  This  is  a  sad  and  humiliating  termination  of  all  our  toils 
and  cares  for  a  Northwest  Seminary  in  which  a  rational  but  decided 
anti-slavery  tone  might  be  imparted  to  the  rising  ministry  of  the  country." 

No  one  disputed  the  ability  of  Dr.  MacMaster's  speech,  but 
it  was  not  listened  to.  The  address,  prepared  with  elaborate 
care,  was  read  from  MS.  A  reporter  for  a  Cincinnati  paper,  with 
the  Doctor's  consent,  took  the  sheets  as  he  laid  them  down,  dur 
ing  the  delivery;  but  his  train  hour  arriving,  the  reporter  seized 
what  he  could  lay  hands  on,  and  took  himself  off.  Soon  Dr.  Mac- 
Master  was  broken  off  in  discourse,  and  looking  for  some  time 
for  the  missing  sheets,  exclaimed  in  child-like  despair  to  those 
about  him  "Where  is  my  Sixthly?  Who  has  taken  my  Sixthly?" 
Dr.  Rice  and  his  friends  took  up  the  cry;  and,  moving  about  on 
the  floor  of  the  Assembly  asked  "Who  of  you  has  Dr.  MacMaster's 
Sixthly?"  Because  of  his  love  of  accuracy,  of  proportion,  of 
method  and  moderation,  Dr.  MacM.  always  preferred  to  speak 
from  his  prepared  and  written  page;  but  he  was  a  conversation 
alist  of  brilliant  power;  and,  when  aroused,  was  an  extempore 
preacher  such  as  any  man  in  a  lifetime  is  not  often  permitted  to 

107 


hear.  I  well  remember  as  a  little  boy, — though  I  could  not  under 
stand, — his  occasional  sermons  in  the  Bank  Street  Church  in 
New  Albany;  the  hushed  and  intent  audience,  the  striking  figure 
of  the  speaker,  over  six  feet  high  and  with  white,  silky  hair;  the 
measured,  frugal  use  of  well  chosen  words  in  long,  involved  sen 
tences;  which  wandered  out,  an<J  came  back  again,  and  finally 
ended  like  a  trip-hammer,  in  sitonething  which  startled  those 
about  me,  and  made  them  exchange  looks  of  pleasure  and  sur 
prise.  Finding  his  MS.  gone,  the  Doctor  turned  upon  his  audi 
ence,  and  gave  them  a  full  equivalent  for  his  missing  pages.  I 
have  heard  of  many  minor  things  in  this  speech, — among  them  his 
promise  "to  meet  Thorn  well  and  Palmer  at  Philippi,"  referred 
to  afterward  in  my  father's  letter  of  June  12,  1866, — none  of 
which  appear  in  its  printed  copy;  and  I  have  supposed  these  to 
have  been  uttered  in  lieu  of  his  lost  "Sixthly." 

Dr.  Rice  and  his  friends  claimed  that  "Hanover  College  was 
a  failure;  and  there  was  no  wonder  if  this  Seminary  should 
have  been  likewise."  Dr.  R.  admitted  on  the  floor  of  the  Assem 
bly  that  he  had  written  editorially  in  his  St.  Louis  paper;  "It  is 
evidently  the  design  of  Drs.  MacMaster  and  Thomas  to  establish 
an  Abolition  Institution  in  the  Northwest,  and  train  up  young 
men  to  divide  the  church."  The  speech  of  Dr.  Rice,  in  reply  to 
Dr.  MacMaster,  was  not  reported  stenographic-ally;  but,  he 
charged  Dr.  M.  with  obtruding  upon  the  Assembly  his  personal 
ambitions;  ridiculed  and  defied  him;  told  him  to  print  his 
speech;  to  double  the  edition,  and  he  would  pay  half  of  the 
expense. 

With  Dr.  Rice,  the  Assembly  elected  to  fill  the  other  Profes 
sorships,  Dr.  Willis  Lord,  Dr.  L.  J.  Halsey  and  Dr.  W.  M.  Scott, 
son-in-law  of  Dr.  Chas.  Hodge.  They  were,  in  fact,  named  by 
Dr.  Rice,  and  held  his  views  regarding  slavery ;  but  were  men  of 
milder  type.  Later  on,  (June  12,  1866),  my  father  wrote  to  Dr. 
MacMaster  that  "he  would  find  a  valuable  body  of  co-laborers  in 
Drs.  Halsey,  Lord  and  Elliott,"  the  latter  of  whom  had  taken  the 
place  of  Dr.  W.  M.  Scott. 

I  have  sought  unsuccessfully  to  obtain  the  names  of  the 
forty-five  delegates  who  voted  for  Dr.  MacMaster:  no  son  will 
ever  be  ashamed  to  find  his  father's  name  upon  that  list.  I  ap 
pend  the  final  page  of  Dr.  MacMaster 's  printed  speech. — A.  A.  T. 

"It  is  with  extreme  reluctance  and  profound  regret,  that  I  bring  out, 
in  the  form  I  here  do,  opinions,  and  sentiments,  and  practices,  on  this 
subject  of  slavery,  which  I  think  are  not  honorable  to  the  Church.  I 
have  known  these  things,  as  from  time  to  time,  through  ten  years  past, 
they  have  come  to  light,  with  other  things  of  like  bearing  of  earlier  date. 
I  have  known  these  things,  and  have  kept  silence.  I  have  kept  silence, 
because  I  desired  peace, — my  own  peace, — I  hope,  still  more  the  peace  of 
the  Church.  I  have  kept  silence,  because  I  have  always  deprecated  violent 
agitation  over  particular  forms  of  evil,  which  is  so  apt  to  run  into  exag 
gerations  and  extremes,  damaging  alike  to  personal  character  and  to  the 
best  interests  of  truth  and  righteousness.  I  have  kept  silence,  because  I 

108 


have  no  aptitudes  and  no  taste  for  such  conflicts.  I  have  kept  silence, 
because  I  have  known  something  of  the  manifold  complications  and  diffi 
culties  of  this  whole  problem  of  slavery  and  the  slave  population,  and  be 
cause  it  has  long  been  my  settled  conviction,  that  men  living  in  the  midst 
of  slavery,  and.  to  whom  immediately  and  chiefly  it  belongs,  alone  are 
competent  to  deal  wisely  with  it,  and  to  devise  and  execute  measures  for 
abating  its  evils,  and  effecting  ultimately  its  abolition.  Gladly  would  I 
have  continued  to  be  silent,  as  I  have  been  habitually  silent  concerning 
the  relations  of  the  Church  to  the  whole  subject. 

But  when  the  minions  of  that  Pro-Slavery  Power  which  has,  through 
a  long  series  of  years,  so  prostituted  and  demoralized  the  administration 
of  our  noble  political  system,  to  the  protection,  perpetuation,  and  extension 
of  slavery,  obtrude  themselves  into  our  heritage  in  these  free  states,  and, 
on  our  own  free  soil,  professedly  in  the  interest  of  slavery,  impudently  in 
terfere  with  us  when  quietly  prosecuting,  upon  our  own  field,  the  work 
of  the  Church,  and  wrest  from  us  an  institution  established  for  its  serv 
ice,  then,  I  say,  that  the  question  is  no  longer  about  the  slavery  of  the  ne 
groes,  but  whether  we  ourselves  shall  be  brought  in  bondage  to  this  impu 
dent  and  odious  domination.  Is  Liberty,  born  of  Christianity,  baptized  in 
the  blood  of  our  fathers,  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  Presbyterianism,  amidst 
the  shock  of  arms  in  the  battles  of  the  old  Dutch  Republic  and  on  the 
brave  old  hills  of  Scotland,  and  standing  up  here,  so  proudly  in  the  full 
ness  of  its  strength,  in  this  great  land,  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home 
of  the  brave,  is  Liberty  to  perish  at  last  here  among  American  Presbyter 
ians?  This  is  the  question  which  I  ask  all  right-hearted  Presbyterians  to 
ponder  well,  to  lay  up  in  their  hearts,  and  to  make  the  subject  of  their 
meditations. 

"No:  Liberty  shall  not  so  perish.  Truth  and  righteousness  shall  not 
be  so  borne  down,  and  their  voice  smothered.  This  great  wrong  against 
the  Church  herself  shall  not  be  perpetrated  for  sake  of  slavery,  so  utterly 
heterogeneous  and  alien  to  our  principles,  our  character,  and  our  spirit, 
as  a  people.  Let  not  the  enemies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  reproach  her. 
Let  not  the  uncircumcised  in  heart  rejoice  over  her.  It  may  be  she  sleeps : 
but  her  heart  waketh.  Soon  she  will  hear  the  voice  of  her  Lord,  touching 
this  anomalous  and  heterogeneous  thing,  and  will  arise  to  vindicate  her 
honor,  to  reiterate  her  ancient  testimonies,  and  to  renew  her  labors,  to 
correct  the  errors  of  former  times,  and  as  speedily  as  possible  to  efface 
this  blot  on  our  holy  religion,  and  to  obtain  the  complete  abolition  of  slav 
ery  throughout  Christendom,  and  if  possible  throughout  the  world." 

Entries  in  Dr.  Thomas's  diary,  when  John  Brown  ivas  hung.     Dit 
to,  when  the  flag  came  down  on  Fort  Sumpter. 

Friday,  Dec.  2,  1859.  "Ossawatomie  Brown  (John),  hanged  to-day  in 
Virginia,  as  a  traitor,  for  his  mad  inroad  at  Harper's  Ferry.  A  stern 
Cromwellian  fanatic ;  but  probably  a  much  better  man  than  those  who  exe 
cute  him.  The  Lord  reigneth :  let  the  earth  rejoice" ! 

Tuesday,  Dec.  27,  1859.  "Dr.  E.  D.  MacMaster  called  and  spent  the 
day.  Talked  over  the  propriety  of  establishing  a  monthly  magazine  of 
anti-slavery  character." 

"20  Dec.,  1860,  South  Carolina  seceded". 

Jany.  10,  1861.  "The  State  of  Mississippi  yesterday  seceded  from  the 
Union,  by  32  to  15  votes  in  the  Convention.  Yesterday,  also,  THE  FIRST 
GUN  FIRED  in  the  coming  Civil  War!  The  Charleston  forts  fired  on  the 
U.  S.  Steamer,  Star  of  the  West,  sent  to  re-enforce  Maj.  Anderson  at  Ft. 
Sumpter. 

May  God  defend  the  right,  and  deliver  the  oppressed!" 

Ap.  13.  To-day's  Gazette  informs  us  that  at  4  a.  m.  on  yesterday, 
Friday,  April  12,  the  Rebels  of  South  Carolina,  after  demanding  the  sur- 

109 


render  of  Fort  Sumpter,  OPENED  FIRE;  and  so  has  begun  the  long- 
expected  WAR  between  our  Government,  and  the  rebels  of  the  slave-hold 
ing  South.  May  a  just  God,  the  righteous  Judge,  decide  the  contest; 
giving  deliverance  to  the  oppressed  slaves,  whose  cry  has  so  long  ascended 
to  heaven ! 

FROM  REV.  E.  D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D. 

Dr.  MacMaster  in  retirement.  His  views  as  "a  looker-on  in 
Venice",  regarding  the  intentions,  hopes  and  fate  of  the 
slave  power. 

Poland,  Ohio,  January  1st,  1861. 
Rev.  and  dear  Sir: 

It  is  the  first  day  of  the  new  year.  Although  not  much  given  to  observe 
"days",  I  avail  myself  of  the  occasion  to  offer  to  you,  your  wife,  and  your 
daughters,  and  your  sons,  my  salutations,  and  my  best  wishes  that  it  may 
be  to  you  a  happy  year.  I  add;  not,  like  a  Spaniard,  the  wish  that  you 
may  live  a  thousand  years; — for  who  would  live  alway? — but  my  prayer 
that  you  may  live  as  many  years  as  you  desire,  and  that  they  may  be  to 
you,  and  all  yours,  happy  years. 

I  remember  with  much  interest  the  many  pleasant  hours  I  spent  with 
you  in  the  days  of  years  now  gone  by, — hours  from  which  I  had  both  en 
joyment  and  profit.  The  current  events  of  the  present  times  minister  sub 
jects  of  remark,  and  food  for  reflection;  and  the  shadows  cast  before  of 
coming  events  give  occasion  for  expectation.  Of  the  latter,  the  most  nota- 
able  are  the  prospective  issue  of  the  strange  revolution  still  in 
progress  in  "the  Flowery  Land" — the  prospective  dissolution  of  "the  Sick 
Man", — and  the  prospective  disintegration  of  that  ugly  conglomerate,  the 
Hapsburgh  horn  of  the  ugly  "beast"  which  the  Seer  of  Patmos  saw  arising 
out  of  the  abyss.  Of  the  former  the  most  remarkable  are,  the  stripping  of 
poor  old  Pio  Nono  of  his  ancient  patrimony,  and  the  consolidation  of  the 
little  States  of  that  renowned  Peninsula,  so  long  rent  by  their  own  internal 
distractions,  in  one  Italian  nationality,  and  under  institutions  as  liberal 
as  they  are  yet  able  to  bear ;  and  the  violent  talk  of  our  own  confederacy, 
in  the  interest  of  slavery  propagandism.  I  say  the  talk  of  disruption ;  for 
I  am  not  yet  clear  that  anything  more  is  meant  than  talk,  and  whatever 
talk  may  be  able  to  extort  from  a  pusillanimity  which  has  never  yet  failed 
to  yield  all  which  impudence  has  demanded  of  it. 

I  have  supposed,  indeed,  for  many  years  that  there  are  in  the  South 
traitprs  who,  seeing  their  own  section,  under  the  blight  of  slavery,  more 
and  tnore  continually  overshadowed  by  the  Free  States  of  the  North,  if 
they  thought  it  could  be  done,  would  be  willing,  and  more  than  willing, 
toJWry  off  from  the  present  Union  as  many  as  they  can  of  the  Slave 
States,  and,  adding  by  conquest  to  these  Cuba  and  the  weak  and  barbar 
ous  States  of  Mexico  and  of  Central  America,  to  form  on  the  sunny  shores 
of  the  Gulf  a  new  Confederacy  over  which  they  might  bear  rule.  They 
would  thus  have  a  society  after  their  own  heart ;  black  slaves  for  the  "mud 
sills  ;"  above  these  a  class  of  "poor  whites"  for  artizans  and  shop-keepers, 
and  over  all  themselves  as  an  aristocracy,  owning  the  land,  and,  as  lords 
of  the  domain,  holding  all  political  power. 

The  only  question  is,  whether  these  men  be  so  ignorant  as  to  think  that 
a  system  such  as  that  can  be  established  in  this  day  when,  throughout  the 
whole  world,  all  the  old  and  long-established  systems  of  robbery  and  op 
pression  are  crumbling  into  dust.  I  have  been  afraid  not  only  of  the  ring- 
streaked  and  speckled  "Democracy"  but  of  the  old  chronic  spirit  of  com 
promise,  of  which  that  respectable,  staid,  intelligent,  conservative,  moral, 
pious  body,  the  old  lady  Whiggery,  some  years  ago  died,  that  it  might  be 

uo 


revived  in  the  Republican  body.  Certainly  a  very  fit  representative  of  the 
spirit,  and  a  very  fit  administrator  de  ftonis  non  upon  the  effects  of  that 
very  respectable  defunct  old  lady  was  found  in  that  very  grave,  serious- 
minded,  earnest,  staunch-principled,  pure,  and  godly  person,  the  Hon.  Tom. 
Cor  win. 

Perhaps  that  danger  is  past.  Some  inconvenience,  possibly  some  dis 
turbance  of  public  order,  may  arise  from  the  wicked  weakness,  or  the  weak 
wickedness,  of  the  poor  "Old  Public  Functionary,"  who  makes  it  so  hard 
a  trial  for  us  to  obey  the  Divine  precept,  "Thou  shalt  not  speak  evil  of 
the  ruler  of  thy  people."  Perhaps  we  may  find  forgiveness  of  our  offenses 
in  the  plea,  "I  wist  not  that  lie  was  the  Ruler."  My  fears  for  the  country 
do  not  arise  from  the  violent  talk  of  the  traitors  in  the  South,  but  from  the 
remembrance  that  God  is  just.  Nearly  twelve  years  ago,  in  reference  to 
the  then  recent  spoliation  of  abject  Mexico  in  the  interest. of  slavery-propa- 
gandism,  I  remember  to  have  said  and  printed  these  words :  "If  there  be  a 
God  in  the  heavens  that  judgeth  among  the  nations,  I  think  that  this  na 
tion,  however  it  may  for  the  time  have  seemed  to  triumph  in  the  wrong, 
has  an  unsettled  case  in  controversy,  upon  which  judgment  is  yet  to  be 
rendered  by  the  righteous  Judge  of  all  the  earth.  He  looked  for  judgment, 
but,  lo,  blood!  for  righteousness,  but,  lo,  the  cry  of  the  oppressed!"  I 
think  I  afterwards  repeated  these  words  in  your  pulpit.  In  having  given 
utterance  to  them  I  claim  no  prophetic  foresight.  The  end  was  open, 
even  from  the  beginning,  to  the  vision  of  all  who  had  eyes  to  see.  Per 
haps  the  day  of  reckoning  is  already  come.  I  pray  God  to  give  our  coun 
try  repentance  for  its  sins,  and  to  send  to  it  a  good  deliverance  out  of  all 
its  troubles. 

I  observe  these  events,  my  dear  sir,  only  as  "a  looker-on  in  Venice," 
from  the  streets,  into  which  I  have  been  thrust  out,  for  the  offense  of 
having  said  such  things  as  I  here  recite.  I  am  not,  however,  an  indifferent 
spectator  of  these  events.  I  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  race  to  which  I 
belong ;  a  deep  interest  especially  in  my  country ;  above  all,  a  deep  interest 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  Church  of  our  Lord,  which  He  bought  with 
His  own  blood. 

As  to  myself,  from  whom,  and  of  whom,  your  goodness  has  induced 
you,  from  time  to  time,  to  ask  that  you  might  hear,  I  am  at  present  enjoy 
ing  the  hospitalities  of  my  brother's  house.  Just  now  I  am.  with  him,  in 
the  midst  of  the  "Metaphysics",  so  called,  of  Sir  William  Hamilton,  the 
Lectures  published  the  year  before  the  last,  but  which  I  have  not  till  now 
found  time  to  read. 

If  I  be  not  mistaken,  the  Scotch  Knight  has  been  overrated.  Perhaps 
I  may  rank  him  higher,  when  I  shall  have  read  him  through  to  the  end. 
So  far  as  I  have  gone,  he  seems  to  me  to  have  been  a  man  of  more  reading 
than  reflection,  of  more  memory  than  judgment,  of  more  dogmatism  than 
discrimination.  I  will  not  add  that  he  seems  to  me  to  have  been  a  man  of 
more  phantasy  than  philosophy ;  for  much  of  his  writings  show  him  to  have 
been  a  very  able  man;  and  his  "philosophy  of  the  conditioned",  developed 
in  these  "Discourses",  though  even  that  needs  to  be  set  in  a  clearer  light, 
establishes  his  claim  to  have  been  a  profound  thinker  on  subjects  on  which 
he  had  fully  and  maturely  thought.  For  his  philosophic  temper  and  man 
ners  it  is  impossible  to  have  a  very  high  respect.  To  Reid,  whom  he 
treats  with  respect,  he  certainly  is  not  just.  His  uniform  treatment  of 
Brown ;  who,  though  perhaps  not  a  very  profound  philosopher,  was  a  man 
of  genius,  of  brilliant  gifts,  and  of  great  personal  amiability ;  leads  one  to 
suspect  that  such  spleen  has  its  origin  in  some  personal  pique.  In  listen 
ing  to  the  burly  and  brusque  knight,  one  cannot  but  think,  how  different 
the  manner  of  the  man  from  that  of  the  gentlemanly  Dugald  Stewart! 

I  expect,  when  the  Spring  opens,  to  turn  myself,  for  a  few  weeks,  per 
haps  a  few  months,  to  secular  employment.  I  shall  do  this,  not  that  I 
like  it.  But  I  think  it  to  be  necessary  to  seek  for  the  present  means  of 

111 


subsistence  for  myself  and  those  dependent  on  me,  and  for  the  future 
some  provision,  that,  if  God  spare  my  life,  I  shall  not,  when  I  am  old,  be 
dependent  for  my  bread  on  the  charity  of  the  world,  which,  it  is  said,  is 
cold ;  nor  on  the  charity  of  the  church  by  whose  very  faithful  love  I  have 
in  times  past  been  so  greatly  enriched.  This  statement  is  due  to  the  kind 
ness  which  has  prompted  your  inquiries.  In  respect  to  my  occupation  for 
the  future,  I  am  not  without  some  plans.  But  as  the  song  runs,  "The 
best-laid  schemes  o'  mice  an'  men  gang  aft  a  gley ;"  so  it  is  not  worth  while 
to  say  much  at  present  about  these  plans.  This,  however,  I  may  say,  that 
it  is  no  part  of  my  plans  to  go  into  a  hole  of  the  rocks,  or  a  cave  of  the 
earth,  in  a  grand  disgust  of  the  world,  whether  the  world  without  the 
church,  or  the  world  within  the  church. 

FROM  REV.  E.  D.   MACMASTER,   D.   D. 

His  retirement:  intentions:  opinion  of  Dr.  Chas.  Hodge. 

My  dear  Brother:  Poland,  Ohio,  January  loth,  1861. 

Your  obliging  favor  of  the  8th  instant  has  been  duly  received ; 
and  I  very  cordially  reciprocate  its  fraternal  sentiments. 

The  receipt  of  your  letter  ought  to  have  been  sooner  acknowl 
edged  ;  but  it  came  to  me  in  the  midst  of  the  services  of  the  com 
munion  in  my  brother's  church,  the  larger  share  of  which  he  had 
devolved  on  me.  I  might,  indeed,  have  found  time  to  write;  but 
the  truth  is,  I  had  not  anything  I  cared  to  say  on  the  only  point 
which  seemed  to  require  an  immediate  reply. 

It  was  the  latter  part  of  my  letter  which  was  uppermost  in 
my  mind,  when  I  made  the  suggestion  I  did  concerning  it ;  what 
goes  before  being  regarded  as  a  kind  of  tug  to  lug  it  in.  Expect 
ing  when  the  spring  opens,  to  go  out  into  a  desert  place,  to  build 
there  a  little  cottage,  a  kind  of  lodging-place  in  the  wilderness  of 
a  wayfaring  man,  under  the  cover  of  which  I  might  have  a  place 
where  to  lay  my  head,  and  to  plant  corn,  that  I  might  have  bread 
to  eat,  I  hesitated  between  the  feeling  that  I  ought  perhaps  to 
give  some  account  of  myself,  such  as  every  man  owes  to  his  breth 
ren,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  an  unwillingness  to  ob 
trude  myself  and  my  private  affairs  on  a  community,  my  claims 
on  whose  attention  might  be  questionable.  But  I  despise  little 
devices,  to  do  little  things  by  indirection;  and  this  is  a  little 
thing  for  me  to  be  writing  letter  a.fter  letter  about.  I  would 
rather  it  should  not  be  thought,  either  that  I  have  willingly  aban 
doned  my  duty,  or  that,  having  been  violently  thrust  out  by  the 
elders,  and  chief  priests,  and  scribes,  I  have  gone  away  to  pout, 
like  a  petulant  child  in  the  sulks,  or  to  growl  like  a  dog  in  his 
kennel  with  a  sore  head.  But,  if  you  have  not  sent  my  letter  to 
the  Presbyter,  it  may  be  better  to  let  the  thing  drop :  if  you  have 
already  sent  it,  it  is  no  matter.  I  beg  you  to  pardon  this  long 
talk  dome  ipsomet.  I  shall  try  not  to  err  again  in  the  same  way. 

As  to  the  "plans"  of  which  you  inquire,  I  meant  just  what 
I  said:  that  their  execution  is  so  uncertain  that  it  is  not  worth 

112 


while  to  say  much  about  them.  There  are  some  studies  which  I 
desire  to  prosecute.  There  are,  too,  some  topics  of  theology, 
which,  it  has  seemed  to  me,  might  be  stated  more  satisfactorily 
than  is  done  in  the  books.  A  history  of  the  Old  Testament 
Church,  for  which  there  are  materials  in  various  works,  but  not 
anywhere  reduced  to  proper  form,  has  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  de 
sideratum.  I  think,  too,  that  there  is  a  present  call  for  a  histor 
ical  review  of  the  past  devious  course,  and  present  dubious  posi 
tion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  with  past  efforts  and  prospective 
results,  in  relation  to  slavery ;  and  I  acknowledge  I  am  in  pain  to 
be  delivered  of  the  conception.  Our  rulers  need  to  have  some 
seasonable  words  spoken  into  their  ears :  the  more  honest  part  of 
our  ministers  and  people  to  have  their  perplexities  solved,  and 
the  things  within  them  which  are  ready  to  die  strengthened. 
Perhaps  this  is  a  time  when  men  will  have  an  ear  to  hear.  But 
whether  I  shall  be  able  to  say  what  ought  to  be  said,  and  find 
money  enough  to  print  it,  I  am  not  certain.  And  as  to  the  other 
matters,  of  more  general  and  permanent  interest,  whether  I  shall 
be  able  to  do  anything  in  them  is  doubtful. 

I  was  much  interested  in  the  account  of  your  Fast  day  exer 
cise.  I  hope  the  word  did  the  hearers  good  as  it  doeth  the  upright 
in  heart.  There  was  some  holding  forth  of  the  word  in  this  place 
also,  and  I  presume  in  many  other  places,  the  same  day.  I  hope 
the  fast  of  the  pious  Saint  James  has  not  been  in  vain.  Will  not 
your  Dayton  people  publish  your  sermon?  It  is  a  shame,  if  they 
do  not.  I  remember  very  well  your  two  sermons  in  1847,  which 
I  read  at  the  time  with  care  and  much  interest.  I  ought  to  have 
acknowledged  the  receipt  of  your  sermon  on  the  death  of  Dr. 
Haines,  which  I  read  with  interest,  for  sake  of  the  subject  and 
for  the  author's  sake. 

You  ask  what  I  think  of  Dr.  Hodge's  article  on  the  state  of 
the  country.  I  think  it  is,  like  other  articles  gotten  up  by  the 
same  cook,  a  hodge-podge.  In  what  he  says  of  the  main  causes 
and  the  objects  of  the  treason,  there  is  much  truth  which  it  may 
be  well  for  those  who  sympathize  with  and  half  justify  the 
treason  to  hear.  But,  in  his  concessions,  expositions,  and  propos 
ed  compromises,  there  is  an  assumption  of  the  same  false  defini 
tions  of  slavery  which  has  filled  all  his  articles  on  the  subject 
with  confused  talk,  perplexing  the  minds  of  the  simple,  and  the 
same  old  leaven  of  a  temporizing  spirit,  which  has  so  extensively 
and  so  long  leavened  the  mass  of  the  body,  of  which  he  is  so  true 
a  representative. 

Another  article  showing  this,  and  the  large  share  it  has  had 
in  corrupting  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  church  and  country  and 
producing  the  present  troubles,  would  be  eminently  proper  to  the 
occasion.  I  shall  include  this  in  my  tractate,  if  I  print  anything 
on  the  subject.  I  prefer,  however,  that  at  present  nothing  be 
said  of  this.  But,  in  the  deliverance  of  our  beloved  brother 

113 


Charles,  there  are  some  things  which  our  Southern  brethren  will 
think  hard  to  be  understood :  for  example,  when  he  says  that, 
till  lately  the  advocate  of  disunion  would  have  been  put  into  the 
same  category  with  Benedict  Arnold,  and  he  doubts  not  that  is 
the  place  which  history  will  assign  to  all  such ; — a  saying  which, 
however,  is  very  characteristically  taken  back  in  an  erratum  at 
the  end  of  the  Number.  That  it  got  utterance  by  brother  Charles 
is  among  the  signs  that  the  world  moves. 

Sketch  of  Ms  life.  His  great  influence  and  position  in  the  church 
and  on  the  slavery  controversy.  "To  Drs.  Junkin  and  Rice 
and  others  upholding  the  cause  of  slavery,  he  brought  a 
watchful  and  unceasing  aid,  comfort  and  support."  How, 
and  Why?  Miami  student  at  Princeton  Seminary  writes 
on  the  subject. 

NOTE.  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Hodge.  This  is  probably  the  sever 
est  criticism  of  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  by  any  of  his  cotemporaries ; 
and  is  one  that  a  careful  examination  of  his  record  shows  to 
have  been  wholly  deserved.  At  any  rate,  it  must  go  as  the  opin 
ion  of  a  man  thoroughly  competent  to  express  an  opinion ;  for 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Dr.  MacMaster  had  watched  Dr. 
Hodge's  position  and  influence  in  the  slavery  contest  in  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  the  West,  more  closely  than  Dr.  Hodge  had 
himself. 

The  lovable  qualities  of  his  character,  and  the  fascination 
for  my  father  of  his  winning  personality,  are  well  told  by  Dr. 
Thomas  in  his  letter  from  the  General  Assembly  of  Philadelphia, 
June  2d,  1846 :  that  impression  seems  never  to  have  been  affected ; 
nor  could  he  willingly  admit  about  Di\  Hodge  what  Dr.  MacMas 
ter  states  in  this  letter. 

The  Rev.  Charles  Hodge,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  was  born  in  Phila 
delphia  in  1797,  and  died  at  Princeton  in  1878.  His  father  was 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College,  was  a 
surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  afterward  practiced 
medicine  in  Philadelphia :  his  mother,  of  French-Hugenot  descent, 
was  born  and  passed  her  early  life  in  Boston.  Charles  Hodge  was 
graduated  at  Princeton  College,  and,  in  1816  entered  the  Theo 
logical  Seminary  there,  where  he  seems  to  have  imbibed  the  bib 
lical  view  of  slavery  taught  by  Dr.  Samuel  Miller:  he  certainly 
never  learned  such  a  lesson  of  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  then  President 
of  Princeton  College.  In  1822,  Charles  Hodge  was  elected  Profes 
sor  in  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  where  he  maintained 
himself  with  growing  and  distinguished  honor  and  usefulness  for 
over  fifty  years.  In  1825,  he  established  the  Biblical  Repertory, 
which,  assisted  chiefly  by  other  Princeton  professors,  he  contin 
ued  to  edit  and  conduct  until  his  death;  its  early  design  being 
"to  assist  ministers  and  laymen  in  the  criticism  and  interpreta- 

114 


tion  of  the  Bible".  Its  name  was  afterwards  changed  to  the 
"Biblical  Repertory  and  Princeton  Review",  by  which  latter 
name  it  has  since  been  known.  In  such  a  position,  supported  and 
adorned  by  all  the  graces  of  manner  and  character  and  high 
scholarship,  and  a  marvelous  industry;  and,  in  large  part, 
through  this  Review,  Charles  Hodge  and  his  associates  such  as 
the  Alexanders  and  others  of  like  attainments,  made  the  Prince 
ton  influence  dominant  in  the  Old  School  branch  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  in  the  United  States — surely  no  contemporary  so 
long  exerted  an  equal  influence  in  any  other  church,  at  home  or 
abroad. 

In  1836,  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  in  the  Princeton 
Review,  appeared  an  article  asserting  the  biblical  sanction  of 
slavery,  in  these  words : 

"It  is  on  all  hands  acknowledged  that  at  the  time  of  the  advent  of 
Jesus  Christ,  slavery  in  its  worst  forms  prevailed  over  the  whole  world. 
The  Saviour  found  it  around  him  in  Judea :  the  apostles  met  with  it  in 
Asia,  Greece  and  Italy.  How  did  they  treat  it?  Not  by  the  denunciation 
of  slaveholding  as  necessarily  and  universally  sinful.  *  *  *  *  The  subject 
is  hardly  alluded  to  by  Christ  in  any  of  his  personal  instructions.  *  *  *  * 
The  assumption  that  slaveholding  is  itself,  a  crime,  is  not  only  an  error, 
but  an  error  fraught  with  the  worst  of  consequences". 

No  one  can  briefly  tell  or  easily  exaggerate  the  harm  that 
such  utterance  from  such  a  quarter  exerted  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  that  day,  and  during  the  period  of  a  whole  generation. 
This  doctrine  was  taught  to  students  in  Princeton  Seminary,  who 
became  its  missionaries  throughout  the  land,  north  and  south. 
It  was,  Dr.  Hodge  afterwards  stated,  "inculcated  by  southern 
men  all  over  the  South"  ;*  was  eagerly  welcomed  by  all  pro-slavery 
men,  for  here  was  at  once  a  sedative  to  their  consciences,  and  an 
argument  and  an  authority  of  which  they  stood  greatly  in  need. 
This  quotation,  as  an  authority,  appears  over  and  over  again  in 
the  literature  of  the  slavery  controversy  in  the  church,  and  was 
always  both  text  and  evidence  with  the  northern  defenders  of 
slavery,  like  Drs.  Junkin  and  Rice.  Nor  was  the  harm  confined 
within  the  limits  of  the  church.  When  the  brutal  supporters  of 
Slavery  in  St.  Louis  assembled  there  in  public  meeting  to  stifle 
free  speech  and  encourage  a  mob  which  murdered  Lovejoy,  they 
had  in  their  mouths  the  words  of  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  and, 

"RESOLVED,  that  the  Sacred  writings  furnish  abundant  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  slavery  from  the  earliest  periods.  The  patriarchs  possess 
ed  slaves:  our  Savior  recognized  the  relation  between  master  and  slave, 
and  deprecated  it  not ;  hence,  we  know  he  did  not  condemn  that  relation ; 
on  the  contrary,  His  disciples,  in  all  countries,  designated  their  respective 
duties  to  each  other;  therefore 

"RESOLVED,  that  we  consider  slavery,  as  it  exists  now  in  the  United 
States,  as  sanctioned  by  the  Sacred  Scriptures". 

*  Letter  of  Chas.  Hodge  to  Dr.  J.  C..  Bachus,  p.  464  of  Life  of  Dr. 
C.  Hodge,  by  his  son. 

115 


After  this  publication  by  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  the  only  genuine 
effort  to  remove  slavery  by  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  of 
any  southern  state,  was  made  by  the  Emancipationists  of  Ken 
tucky  in  1849,  which  movement,  it  is  fair  to  say,  had  Dr.  Hodge's 
active  and  hearty  support.  The  Kev.  K.  J.  Breckenridge,  who  led 
in  this  attempt,  in  a  printed  address  to  the  people  there  before 
its  disastrous  failure,  said;  "The  burden  of  the  disquisitions  of 
those  who  wished  to  foster,  enlarge  and  perpetuate  slavery  in 
Kentucky,  was  the  divine  origin  of  the  right  of  property  in 
man,  the  marked  approval  of  slavery  by  Christ  and  His  Apos 
tles",  etc.  Yet  Dr.  Hodge  "held  that  slavery  was  a  great  evil, 
and  ought  to  be  somehow  and  sometime  brought  to  an  end."  * 
and  he  wanted  it  to  go  by  natural  and  peaceful  modes  of  death". 
These  he  defined  as,  "(1)  the  increase  of  the  slave  population 
until  it  reached  the  point  of  being  unproductive;  and  (2)  the  grad 
ual  elevation  of  the  slaves  in  knowledge,  virtue  and  property  to 
the  point  at  which  it  would  be  no  longer  desirable  and  possible 
to  keep  them  in  bondage."  * 

Dr.  Hodge  idealized  slavery  and  held  that  its  ordinary  inci 
dents  were  abuses  which^  should  be  corrected.  His  son  claims 
Dr.  Hodge's  view  and  position  on  slavery  was  substantially  that 
of  Dr.  Kobert  J.  Breckenridge.  But  the  latter  had  written. 

"Out  upon  such  folly!  the  man  who  cannot  see  that  Ameri 
can  slavery,  as  it  exists  among  us,  is  founded  on  the  principle 
of  taking  by  force  that  which  is  another's,  has  simply  no  moral 
sense". 

In  1843,  Dr.  Wm.  Cunningham,  afterwards  Principal  of  the 
New  College,  Edinburgh,  visited  the  United  States  at  the  head 
of  a  new  delegation  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  The  aboli 
tionists  had  great  hopes  of  good  from  this  visit,  relying  on  his 
well-known  love  of  freedom.  Dr.  Hodge  used  all  his  arts  to  disap 
point  all  such  hope,  and  with  a  measure  of  success.  On  his 
return,  Dr.  C.  wrote  to  him  (Ibid,  p.  357)  from  Edinburgh:  "I 
succeeded  in  preventing  our  Assembly  from  doing  anything  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  except  appointing  a  committee  to  con 
sider  it,  and  I  shall  do  what  I  can  to  get  them  to  do  as  little  as 
possible",  (p.  357).  But  it  was  hard  to  hold  such  a  man  long 
in  the  sophistical  meshes  which  Dr.  Hodge  had  woven  about 
him;  and  later,  he  writes:  "I  am  not  satisfied  of  the  soundness 
of  some  of  the  principles  in  your  article  on  Abolitionism  in  the 
Repertory.  I  cannot  see  how  any  human  being  can  justly  and 
validly  lose  his  own  personal,  natural  right  to  control  his  time 
and  labor,  unless  the  element  either  of  his  own  consent  or  of 
penal  infliction  for  a  crime  proven  be  brought  in",  (p.  361). 

What  wonder  that  Dr.  Cunningham  filed  his  protest  against 

*  Life  by  his  son,  p.  356. 

*  Essays  and  Reviews  by  Dr.  C.  Hodge,  pp.  505-6. 

116 


the  doctrine  here  taught  by  his  friend!  How  can  anyone  read 
pages  558  et  seq.,  of  this  article  on  Abolitionism  *  without  realiz 
ing  that  Dr.  Hodge  is  here  defending  slavery  on  principle,*  and 
adroitly  whittling  away  the  foundation  of  any  such  possible 
thing  as  human  rights! 

From  1836  until  after  I860,  Dr.  Hodge  brought  to  the  min 
isters  of  his  church  in  the  West  and  South  who  were  upholding 
the  cause  of  slavery,  a  watchful  and  unceasing  aid,  comfort  and 
support.  One  may  fairly  question  whether  there  are  many  who 
can  now  read  Dr.  Geo.  Junkin's  biblical  defence  of  slavery  with 
out  some  sense  of  shame.  It  met  Dr.  Hodge's  warmest  approval ; 
and,  with  its  caustic  "Review"  by  Dr.  Thomas,  were  the 
publications  which  elicited  the  article  on  Abolitionism  in 
the  Princeton  Review.  One  of  the  outcomes  of  the  anti- 
slavery  activity  set  on  foot  by  Dr.  Bishop,  at  Oxford,  O.,  was 
the  final  expulsion  from  the  New  School  branch  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  of  the  Rev.  Wm.  Graham;  for  the  New  School 
people  would  not  endure  on  this  subject  what  was  robust  ortho 
doxy  in  the  Old  School  branch.  Graham  published  in  his  defence, 
a  pamphlet  called  "The  Contrast ;  or  the  Bible  and  Abolitionism" ; 
and  this  publication  and  that  of  Dr.  Geo.  Junkin  were  noticed 
in  the  Princeton  Review,  (p.  310,  vol.  20),  by  Dr.  Hodge,  as 
follows : 

"These  two  pamphlets,  refuting  the  unscriptural  arguments  of  the 
Abolitionists,  derive  a  singular  interest  from  their  origin.  The  substance 
of  both  was  pronounced  in  ecclesiastical  bodies,  to-wit,  the  Old  School  and 
New  School  Synods  of  Cincinnati ;  both  were  produced  in  a  State  which  is 
exempt  from  the  ills  of  slavery ;  and  both  were  written  by  men  who  are 
natives  of  free  States.  We  will  add,  that  both  are  in  a  degree  interesting 
and  cogent.  Mr.  Graham's  examination  of  the  scriptural  passages  touching 
slavery  is  cool,  patient,  and  clear  from  all  extraneous  matter.  His  ar 
gument  is  so  purely  a  reiteration  of  undeniable  scripture  statement,  that 
we  hold  it  to  be  unanswerable.  Dr.  Junkin's  discourse  takes  a  wider 
range,  and,  as  founded  on  the  same  plain  Scriptures,  is  in  like  manner  a 
triumphant  vindication  of  Christian  rights,  in  this  matter.  Much  of  the 
fanaticism  of  our  age  is  manifested  in  seeking  to  be  holier  than  the  law  of 
God:  hence  the  remarkable  concurrence  in  argument  and  spirit,  of  the 
extreme  polemics,  on  Oaths,  on  Total  Abstinence,  on  War  and  Peace,  and 
on  Slavery.  If  slavery  is  ever  to  be  abolished,  it  must  be  by  means  less 
desperate,  than  the  attempt  to  prove  that  it  was  condemned  by  the  inspired 
writers" 

Rev.  Dr.  Hodge  noted  and  approved  the  taking  possession  of 
the  Northwestern  Theological  Seminary  by  the  pro-slavery  men, 
one  of  whom  was  his  own  son-in-law,  and  he  was,  according  to 
the  statement  of  his  son  and  biographer,  active  and  influential  in 
bringing  about  the  election  to  a  professorship  in  Princeton  Semi 
nary,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1860, 

*  See  Princeton  Review,  Vol.  20  p.  558  et  seq.,  1844. 

*  "I  envy  neither  the  head  nor  the  heart  of  that  Northern  man  who 
will  defend  slavery  on  principle", — John  Randolph. 

117 


of  a  man*  who  avowed  that  "the  providential  trust  of  the  Southern 
people  was  to  conserve  and  perpetuate  the  institution  of  slavery 
as  now  existing".  To  do  justice  to  Dr.  Chas.  Hodge,  as  well  as 
to  further  substantiate  some  of  the  statements  above  made,  may 
require  an  examination,  which  space  and  time  do  not  now  permit, 
into  the  teaching  of  some  of  the  other  professors  of  Princeton 
Seminary  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  The  first  professor  in  this 
institution  was  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  whose  biography,  pub 
lished  in  1855,  was  ,so  well  and  beautifully  written  by  his  son, 
that  it  has  ever  since  been  a  Presbyterian  classic.  Its  only 
reference  to  slavery  occurs  on  pp.  425-6,  (condensed  edition) 
where  is  given  Dr.  Alexander's  letter  to  Rev.  Wm.  S.  Plummer, 
written  in  1830.  The  letter  of  enquiry  is  not  given,  but  Dr.  A's 
answer  says:  *  *  "The  subject  on  which  you  ask  advice  is  both 
delicate  and  difficult.  *  *  If  you  wish  for  my  opinion  as  to 
how  you  may  best  promote  the  welfare  of  those  whom  Provi 
dence  has  committed  to  your  care,  and  for  whom  you  must  give 
an  account,  I  would  say,  that  you  can  best  promote  their  happi 
ness  ~by  keeping  them  in  your  possession,  and  instructing  them 
in  the  Christian  religion".  So  here  in  1830,  in  reply  to  a  question 
as  to  duty,  by  a  minister,  who,  evidently,  was  excusably  involved, 
concerned  and  conscience-stricken,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  ad 
vises  against  manumission,  and  gives  no  hint  of  any  duty  in  that 
direction.  \ 

Among  the  Elders  in  the  church  at  Oxford,  O.  was  Benj.  C. 
Swan,  whose  name  often  appears  signed  to  calls  for  anti-slavery 
movements  thereabouts.  His  son  is  the  Rev.  Dr.  B.  C.  Swan, 
who  married  the  daughter  of  Prof.  Jared  M.  Stone,  and  who  now 
lives  at  Metropolis,  Illinois:  his  cousin  was  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Swan, 
who  was  born  and  raised  in  Tennessee,  graduated  at  Miami 
University  in  1839,  completed  his  three  years  course  at  Prince 
ton  in  1842,  and  died,  I  think,  when  chaplain  in  the  navy.  These 
men  were  friends  of  my  father's  early  anti-slavery  days;  and 
the  elder  Mr.  Swan  handed  him  the  following  letter,  which  I  find 
preserved  upon  his  files. 
My  dear  Cousin :  Princeton  Seminary,  Jany.  12,  1830. 

"I  am  well  pleased  with  the  Seminary  and  with  all  the  Professors 
here;  have  never  been  so  far  off  from  any  of  my  friends  before,  but  T 
am  as  kindly  treated  by  the  students  and  Professors  as  any  here.  Dr. 
Alexander  is  truly  a  great  man.  He  has  more  strength  of  intellect  than 
any  man  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  I  have  never  been  with  a  man  whose  turn 
of  mind  pleased  me  so  well.  He  says  nothing  which  he  has  not  the  strong 
est  arguments  to  substantiate.  I  am,  in  a  word,  pleased  with  all  the 
Professors  in  the  Seminary.  There  is  a  Theological  Society  connected  with 
it,  in  which  we  debate  all  subjects  connected  with  theology.  Our  subject 
last  night  was  psalmody. 

Last  week,  those  students  who  are  appointed  to  present  questions  to 
the  Society,  introduced  three  questions  upon  slavery,  and  no  others.  Dr. 
Miller  was  in  the  chair ;  he  told  them  that  he  hoped  they  would  not  take 

*  Rev.  Dr,  B.  M.  Palmer  of  New  Orleans. 

118 


either  of  them,  for  they  were  not  the  right  kind  for  the  Society.  The  stu 
dents  were  all  of  the  same  opinion,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three. 
You  may  therefore  guess  what  became  of  the  questions.  Abolitionism  does 
not  even  breathe  here,  let  alone  flourish.  Two  or  three  weeks  since  we  had 
up  the  following  question.  Ought  preachers  to  preach  against  those 
things  which  are  supported  by  the  government,  though  they  be  sinful  and 
contrary  to  the  Bible?  Dr.  Miller,  (for  he  was  in  the  chair,)  decided  that 
they  should  preach  against/  them,  but  with  caution.  Those  students  who 
offered  the  questions  upon  slavery  thought  that  they  had  the  Doctor  fast : 
they  then  asked  him  what  they  should  do  in  reference  to  slavery ;  should 
they  not  preach  against  it?  I  thought  that  the  Doctor  was  in  a  difficulty 
myself,  but  he  got  out  of  the  difficulty  very  easily ;  and  I  suppose  that 
you  will  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  how  he  got  out  of  it.  He  said  that 
the  principle  of  slavery  was  not  contrary  to  the  Bible,  and  therefore  they 
should  not  preach  against  it,  if  they  were  to  go  to  the  South.  This  was 
very  unsatisfactory  to  me.  There  is  no  proposition  more  self-evident  to 
me  than  that  one  man  shall  not  have  the  labor  of  another  for  nothing". 

Your  friend  and  cousin, 

GEORGE  W.  SWAN. 

Dr.  Charles  Hodge  took  pleasure  in  claiming  to  be  a  Repub 
lican  in  politics ;  he  voted  for  Fremont  in  1856  and  each  time  for 
Lincoln  in  the  two  following,  successive  presidential  elections. 
He  disliked  and  distrusted  Lincoln,  and  all  his  great  steps  to 
wards  Emancipation.  Such  a  man  he  was.  Perhaps  the  most 
critical  and  decisive  point  in  the  great  career  of  the  Great 
Liberator,  was  when  he  took  the  resolution  not  to  admit  the 
seceding  States  back  with  slavery ;  and  upon  him,  for  this,  Charles 
Hodge  joined  in  the  hue  and  cry.  But  in  1865,  the  position  and 
influence  of  Dr.  Hodge  was  not  what  it  had  been  in  the  twenty- 
four  years  following  1836,  and  the  country  cared  little  then,  and 
probably  cares  less  now,  what  his  opinion  might  be  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  The  battle  of  freedom  had  been  fought  and  nearly  won 
despite  him ;  and  there  is  a  satisfaction,  rather  than  otherwise,  in 
seeing  victory  come  along  with  his  final  protest. — A.  A.  T. 

NOTE.  It  is  well,  perhaps,  to  cite  a  high  lay  authority  for 
the  biblical  sanction  of  slavery.  Here  is  one: 

"To  maintain  that  slavery  is  in  itself  sinful,  in  the  face  of  all  that 
is  written  in  the  Bible  on  the  subject,  with  so  many  sanctions  of  the  rela 
tion  by  the  Deity  itself,  does  seem  to  me  to  be  little  short  of  blasphemous". 
Alexander  H.  Stephens — "The  War  Between  the  States",  vol.  2,  p.  83, 
(1867). 

"The  abolitionists  provoked  a  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  in  the 
South,  and  brought  about  a  state  of  opinion  which  aimed  to  maintain 
slavery  by  texts  of  Scripture,  by  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles." 
— Oeo.  Ticknor  Curtis,  p.  277  vol.  2,  "Life  of  James  Buchanan." 

FROM  THOMAS   O.   LOWE,   ESQ. 

Anti-slavery   sentiments   give   him   pain.     Thinks   Dr.    Thomas' 
views  and  record  on  the  subject  "unpatriotic  in  the  extreme". 

Dayton,  O.,  22  Oct.,  1861. 

I  have  no  idea  that  the  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  several  of  your 
congregation  differ  widely  with  you  in  your  views  of  slavery  will  induce 
you  to  modify  your  sentiments  or  your  expressions  upon  this  "vexed  ques- 

119 


tion."  But  I  cannot  in  justice  to  myself  permit  you  to  remain  longer  in 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  whenever  you  preach  abolitionism  you  give  me 
the  greatest  pain. 

I  freely  accord  you  the  right  to  entertain  and  express  your  opinions 
on  this  subject  (and  on  all  others),  but  at  the  same  time  I  consider  them 
unpatriotic  in  the  extreme. 

FROM   REV.    JOHN   CROZIER. 

An  old  student  under  Dr.  MacMaster  proposes  to  ask  the  Assem 
bly  to  replace  him  in  his  old  chair. 

Olney,   111.,  Nov.  22,   1861. 
My  dear  Brother: 

I  see  that  Dr.  Rice  has  accepted  the  call  to  New  York.  Brother  John 
son  of  Peoria  wrote  me  yesterday  in  anticipation  of  the  acceptance,  and 
the  consequent  vacancy  of  the  Chair  of  Theology  in  the  Northwest  Semi 
nary,  and  asks,  "Would  it  be  possible  to  have  Dr.  MacMaster  elected  to 
fill  it?"  What  do  you  think  of  the  measure?  Does  not  every  question; 
every  consideration  of  private  and  public  justice  and  right  involved  in  the 
case,  demand  that  something  be  now  done?  In  this  day  of  humiliation  and 
rebuke,  ought  not  the  friends  of  truth  to  call  for  a  re-affirmation  of  old 
testimonies?  and  demand  that  those  brethren  who  have  been  cast  down 
because  of  their  unwavering  adherence  to  principle  should  be  restored  to 
places  whence  they  have  been  driven  out?  I  think  the  friends  of  Rice 
and  McCormick,  who  have  three  Professors,  will  feel  willing  for  the  sake 
of  peace  and  harmony,  to  have  the  old  friends  and  the  Alumni  represented 
by  the  former  Professor  of  Theology.  Would  it  not  be  well  for  the  Alumni 
to  join  in  a  memorial  to  the  Assembly? 

I  have  another  son ;  *  *  *  *  John  MacMaster.  Don't  you  think  I 
have  some  moral  courage  to  call  a  boy  after  an  outcast? 

FROM  REV.  E.  D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D. 

Proposes  to  edit  a  monthly  publication. 

Monticello,  Ind.,  Aug.  20,  1862. 
My  dear  Brother: 

An  attack  of  inflammatory  rheumatism,  which  has  confined  me  to  bed 
nearly  the  whole  of  July  and  a  large  part  of  the  present  month,  and  from 
which  I  am  yet  only  partially  recovered,  has  prevented  an  earlier  acknowl 
edgement  of  your  favor  of  the  30th  ult. 

I  felicitate  you  upon  enjoyment  of  the  green  hills  and  pure  air,  and 
free  thoughts  of  the  Old  Bay  State.  As  to  the  heterodox  theologies,  and 
the  petit  ecclesiastical  democracies  of  these  Yankees,  taceo.  I  hope  you 
will  come  back  from  your  visit  to  that  brave  old  commonwealth  replen 
ished  with  health,  and  spirit,  and  life. 

As  for  me,  I  am  yet  in  Hoosierdom,  and  have  my  particular  habitat  in 
a  nest  infested  with  more  than  a  usual  share  of  these  secessionists  mis 
creants  of  the  North. 

Woe's  me  that  I  in  Meshech  am 
A  sojouner  so  long; 
That  I  in  tabernacles  dwell 
To  Kedar  that  belong. 

I  hope  to  close  up  my  farming  operations  for  the  season,  and  get  away 
by  the  middle  of  October.  When  I  tell  you  that  I  live  thirty  miles  from 
my  farm,  and  have  seen  it  but  once  since  the  first  of  November,  you  will 

120 


judge  how  much  I  am  enamored  with  the  Georgies  practical  or  poetical. 

I  give  you  hearty  thanks  for  your  list  of  subscribers  to  the  projected 
monthly;  and  not  less  for  your  exposition  of  the  Golden  Candlestick  and 
the  Olive  Trees.  The  latter  I  have  not  sent  for,  thinking  it  best  it  should 
remain  in  your  own  hands  till  it  is  more  certain  that  I  shall  want  it.  The 
returns  of  subscribers'  names  received,  are,  on  the  whole,  encouraging, 
ranging  from  sixty  down  to  five,  three,  two,  one,  to  each  church ;  in  all 
between  500  and  600;  but  they  are  not  full  enough  to  be  decisive  of  the 
final  result.  From  many  to  whom  the  prospectus  was  sent  I  will  receive 
no  returns ;  but  there  are  many  places  not  yet  heard  from,  as  Columbus, 
Springfield,  Xenia,  Urbana,  West  Liberty,  Sidney,  Indianapolis,  Madison, 
Evansville,  etc.,  from  which  responses  more  or  less  favorable  may  be  ex 
pected.  At  the  low  price  of  one  dollar  we  jnust  have  not  less  than  1200 
subscribers  to  pay  the  expenses  of  publication  and  leave  any  balance  for 
delinquencies  and  other  contingencies.  Whether  so  many  will  be  obtained 
remains  to  be  seen. 

The  course  of  public  events  furnishes  food  for  reflection.  The  alleged 
purpose  of  Mr.  Lincoln  no  longer  to  nurse  slavery  and  coax  the  rebel  slav- 
ocracy  gives  new  hope  to  loyal  men.  Is  it  not  amazing  that  over  this 
black  system  of  inquity,  about  which  a  few  years  ago  we  had  our  little 
conflicts,  the  whole  country  has  been  for  a  year  and  a  half  convulsed  by  a 
civil  war;  and  that  in  three  months  two  millions  of  armed  men  will  be 
face  to  face  in  deadly  strife  over  it  in  which  it  is  to  perish?  Great  and 
marvellous  are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty !  just  and  true  are  thy 
ways,  thou  King  of_ saints! 

Present  my  salutations  to  Mrs.  Thomas. 

Yours  truly  and  fraternally, 

E.  D.  MACMASTEB. 


121 


VI 

FROM  HIS  SISTER. 

Stress  of  war  times  in  Indiana:  sons  in  the  army.    "Unless  we 
proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  our  first-born  must  die". 

Hanover,  Ind.,  15  Sep.  1862. 
My  dear  Brother: 

You  say  in  your  letter  to  mother,  you  have  written  to  me :  I 
am  glad  you  have,  though  it  never  came,  for  I  had  nearly  given 
up  hope  of  more  letters  from  you.  You  have  no  idea  of  the  utter 
void  in  my  house.  My  husband  is  in  the  midst  of  rebels  at  Cum 
berland  Gap,  now  cut  off  from  all  communication  by  mail.  He 
always  wrote  cheerfully  as  long  as  he  wrote,  but  the  last  came 
many  weeks  since.  My  son  Thomas,  a  lieutenant  in  the  cavalry, 
is  lying  ill  of  typhoid  fever  at  St.  Louis,  where  our  youngest  boy 
is  now  nursing  him.  My  son,  Samuel,  an  officer  of  the  Third 
Ind.  Cav. :  the  paper  to-day  says  thirty  of  his  regiment  were 
killed  or  wounded  in  an  action  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  My 
daughter's  husband,  Wm.  Coulter,  enlisted  in  Illinois,  and 
brought  his  wife  and  little  daughter  here.  Near  Hanover  College 
is  a  camp  and  battery,  for  they  fear  the  rebels  will  cross  the 
river.  My  confidence  is  in  God  alone;  yet  we  deserve  His  wrath 
and  cannot  complain  if  He  visit  us  with  distress  on  distress.  I 
feel  as  if  we  were  all  implicated  in  the  guilt  of  slavery,  and  must 
be  punished.  What  has  our  church  done  but  connive  at  this 
sin?  Some  twenty  years  ago,  we  were  aroused  a  little  and  be 
stirred  ourselves ;  but  finding  all  asleep  around  us,  we  were  afraid 
to  agitate  for  fear  we  would  waken  somebody,  and  so  fell  asleep 
ourselves.  But  God's  vengeance  slumbereth  not;  and  I  believe, 
unless  we  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  our  firstborn  must 
die.  How  long  has  He  seen  parents  and  children,  brothers  and 
sisters,  separated  and  torn  from  each  other,  and  no  man  regarded 
it?  Now,  in  a  terrible  manner,  He  is  bringing  us  to  "remember 
those  who  are  bound  as  bound  with  them."  I  am  perplexed  and 
distressed.  I  know  "the  name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong  tower,  the 
righteous  runneth  into  it  and  are  safe."  But  where  are  the 
righteous?  Surely  not  in  these  border  States.  Is  there  nothing 
we  can  do?  Cannot  our  church,  at  least,  take  a  bolder  stand? 
I  wish  I  had  your  opinion  on  this  question. 

Give  my  love  to  all  your  dear  family,  and  believe  me,  as  ever, 

Mary  T.  Gilpin. 

122 


FROM  HIS  MOTHER. 

Fears  some  slave-holder  may  get  into  her  church  communion,  by 
guile.      Wants  to  subscribe  to  Dr.  MacMaster's  magazine. 

Hanover,  Ind.,  Sept.  loth,  1862. 
My  dear  Son : 

It  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  hear  of  your  welfare;  and  of 
your  journey.  You  needed  relaxation ;  and  I  .rejoice  that  you  are 
with  a  people  who  are  so  considerate:  I  trust  your  life  may  be 
spared  to  reward  them  in  spirituals  for  their  temporals.  Give 
my  best  love  to  all  I  know  and  thank  them  for  me,  for  their  care 
of  you.  You  mention  a  letter  not  received,  but  to  make  amends, 
Mary  will  enclose  one  with  mine. 

Yesterday  we  had  the  privilege  of  sitting  around  the  table  of 
the  Lord,  and  I  trust  He  was  with  us.  Dr.  Scott  and  an  old  min 
ister  of  this  neighborhood  presided  at  the  table.  The  Dr.  preach 
ed  a  very  able  and  faithful  discourse  from  Eph.  1 : 7. 

A  day  or  two  before  the  meeting,  we  found  out  there  was  a 
slaveholding  family,  come  into  your  old  house,  from  Kentucky; 
bringing  an  old  slave  with  them,  which  by  the  bye,  we  heard  they 
had  tried  to  exchange  or  trade  away,  while  on  their  route,  for  one 
younger:  likewise  that  they  had  sold  part  of  their  slaves  just  be 
fore  they  came,  and  have  others  in  reserve  to  sell.  Your  sister 
and  myself  felt  disposed  to  withdraw  from  the  communion,  but 
had  no  opportunity  of  conversing  with  our  ruler.  Dr.  Scott  is 
very  friendly;  often  visits  us;  but  had  gone  to  Indianapolis  to 
fetch  his  wife.  As  usual,  an  invitation  was  given  to  communi 
cants  in  good  standing  in  sister  churches:  they  communed:  we 
likewise.  We  want  your  opinion  on  the  subject.  It  is  said  he  is 
a  Union  man;  has  a  son  in  the  Federal  army:  but  we  think  we 
have  as  good  a  right  to  refuse  church  fellowship  with  a  dealer  in 
flesh  and  blood,  as  you  had  to  refuse  your  pulpit  to  a  suspected 
traitor,  of  which  Dr.  Scott  gives  us  information.  We  shall  talk 
with  him  about  it  when  we  have  an  opportunity. 

Last  Thursday  night,  we  were  aroused  by  a  man  crying  the 
Rebels  were  crossing  the  Ohio,  JOOO  of  them  at  Hanover  landing. 
This  you  may  be  sure  alarmed  us:  we  gathered  up  some  of  our 
warm  clothing  and  prepared  for  distress;  but  the  Lord  in  his 
mercy  relieved  us  by  daylight,  for  the  report  proved  unfounded. 
There  were  1000  on  the  Kentucky  side,  but  none  attempted  to 
cross  but  two  or  three  spies  who  are  in  Madison  jail.  This 
aroused  the  neighborhood:  our  re-enforcements  have  come  in, 
partly  quartered  upon  the  houses,  all,  all  glad  to  take  them.  It 
is  well  the  country  responds  so  promptly  to  a  call.  Amidst  all  the 
confusion  I  think  I  can  say  my  mind  has  been  calm.  The  Lord 
is  the  actual  ruler  of  nations,  and  I  believe  will  overrule  all  for 
His  own  glory. 

123 


I  wrote  to  Mrs.  Esp.  Cary,  after  her  husband's  death,  and 
received  kind  reply.  How  does  Dr.  MacMaster's  magazine  suc 
ceed?  Will  you  give  him  my  name?  Give  my  love  to  your  Al 
fred — I  admire  his  spirit.  Ever  your 

MOTHER. 

FROM  HIS  MOTHER. 

In  tress  of  war.  "The  Christian  nation  should  be  roused  to  im 
portunate  prayer  for  help."  Meanwhile  she  helps  feed  sol 
diers  and  knits  socks  for  the  army. 

Hanover,  Ind.,  Oct.  13,  1862. 
My  very  dear  Son : 

I  received  your  package  to-day,  with  your  affectionate  letter, 
which  I  answer  at  once. 

In  this  time  of  need,  I  trust  the  Lord's  people  will  send  up 
volleys  of  incense  from  the  altar  which  will  produce  powerful 
effects.  Our  Christian  nation  should  be  roused  to  earnest,  im 
portunate  prayer  for  help.  And  He  who  carried  His  chosen 
people  through  the  Red  Sea,  and  swallowed  up  their  enemies,  can 
He  not  now  destroy  oppression  and  deliver  the  oppressed?  I  be 
lieve  He  is  doing  it,  in  His  own  way,  for  His  own  Glory.  I 
should  love  to  be  in  some  of  the  praying  assemblies,  but  find  sub 
mission  is  my  duty !  Pray  for  me  that  the  Lord  would  give  me  a 
thankful  heart  for  all  His  gracious  favors :  it  is  true  I  am  confined 
to  the  house,  but  abound  in  comforts.  I  am  thankful  for  a  quiet, 
peaceful  home  here.  The  religious  privileges  are  very  great.  Drs. 
Wood  and  Jno  W.  Scott  are  faithful  men :  sixty  students  in  the 
College;  large  day-school  taught  by  a  suitable  teacher;  very  large 
and  good  Sunday  School ;  prayer  meetings  frequent ;  female  pray 
er  meeting  every  week,  and  all  well  filled  with  the  people  general 
ly  attentive.  Dr.  J.  W.  Scott,  boarding  with  Dr.  Wood  in  Prof. 
Stone's  house,  often  inquires  after  and  longs  to  see  you.  We  en 
joy  their  society  very  much.  Tomorrow  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Society 
meets  here;  your  sister  is  making  coats  and  I  am  knitting  socks 
for  the  Army.  Prof.  Sturgus'  family  are  left  very  poor.  The 
young  man,  whose  education  is  not  completed,  is  seeking  a  school. 
Do  you  know  of  one  for  him?  The  widow,  poor  thing!  she  re 
minds  me  of  my  own  family.  When  I  look  back  to  Oct.  9th,  1831, 
^— Good  is  the  Lord!  He  hath  performed  all  His  promises!! 
Blessed  be  His  holy  name ! ! ! 

Give  my  love  to  all  your  family.  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  their 
welfare  and  well  doing. 

With  much  love  and  sincere  affection,  Your 

MOTHER. 

124 


FROM  HIS   MOTHER— HER   LAST  LETTER. 

Failing  strength.     Wants  to  be  with  her  son  when  the  end  comes. 

My  dear  Son :  Hamilton,  O.,  March  27th,  1863. 

I  have  before  my  eyes  this  morning  a  sad  scene;  just  now 
Jesse  Corwin's  son's  body,  brought  home  from  Washington,  where 
his  uncle  had  procured  him  a  situation  as  clerk  to  one  of  the  Cab 
inets.  He  fell  from  a  three-story  building.  Death  has  been  mak 
ing  great  inroads  in  this  neighborhood.  Old  Mr.  Ogden,  you 
may  remember  him  at  Harrison,  an  Elder  in  Eaton  Church,  Geo. 
Dick's  father-in-law,  was  buried  here  Monday.  Old  Mr.  Keed  of 
Hamilton  likewise  has  gone.  A  letter,  just  come,  says  my  brother, 
Monds,  is  numbered  with  the  dead.  *  *  *  * 

I  am  looking  forward  with  pleasure  to  a  permanent  residence 
with  you.  My  health  and  strength  are,  through  great  mercy,  re 
turning;  still  I  have  not  left  my  room.  Will  you  allow  me  to 
make  some  requests  with  regard  to  my  future  station.  I  am 
coming  to  an  age  when  even  "the  grasshopper  is  a  burden,"  there 
fore  the  most  retired  station  is  acceptable.  As  you  have  so  many 
rooms,  will  you  find  me  one  retired  from  noise  and  interruption. 
I  find  both  nature  and  grace  demand  retirement!  and  as  needle 
work,  probably,  will  be  my  principal  employment,  it  is  desirable 
I  should  be  alone;  lest  haply,  I  should  make  the  garment  wrong 
side  upwards !  for  sometimes  my  brain  gets  addled.  Leaving  jok 
ing  aside,  I  want  to  feel  quite  at  home. 

Jerome  Falconer  (home  wounded  from  the  army)  is  reviving 
a  little.  I  would  like  to  hear  John  Woods  preach  here  next  Sab 
bath.  His  mother  lately  told  me  that  he  told  her  some  of  his 
first  serious  impressions  were  made  in  my  school-room,  under  the 
church, — particularly  the  Lord's  Prayer  we  at  times  sung  in 
verse.  I  trust  many  more  will  compensate  for  my  many  years' 
labor  in  the  school-room,  although  through  much  unfaithfulness. 

Pray  give  my  best  love  to  all.  Goodbye — my  dear  son, — may 
Jehovah !  bless  you,  and  crown  all  your  efforts  to  His  glory. 

Your  affectionate 

MOTHER. 

FROM  CLARK  MCDERMONT,  M.  D.,  AN  ELDER  IN  HIS  CHURCH. 

"In  a  war  hospital.  Nephews  wounded,  lie  six  days  without 
help,  after  Chickamaugua.  Time  just  before  Mission  Ride. 
Colored  nurses  in  hospital  need  help  from  Dayton. 

My  Dear  Doctor:  Cumberland  Hospital,  Nashville,  Nov.  21,  1863. 

*  *  *  *  My  wife  went  to  Chatanooga  on  the  12th  inst.,  to  see  my 
nephew,  William  McDermont,  who  is  in  a  hopeless  condition  with  gun-shot 
fracture  of  the  thigh.  He  lay  on  the  ground  with  his  wounded  brother,  for 
six  days  after  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  without  food,  shelter  or  attend 
ance  of  any  kind.  They  sucked  the  blades  of  grass  to  quench  their  thirst. 
On  the  fourth  day  the  eldest  brother  died.  He  was  but  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  of  much  stronger  constitution  than  William ;  but  mortification  at- 

125 


tacked  his  limb,  and  ended  his  suffering.  It  is  painful  in  the  extreme  to 
contemplate  the  condition  of  those  brave  brothers  lying  side  by  side  for 
six  days  without  friend  or  food,  or  any  protection  from  the  rain  and  cold. 
The  deceased,  who  was  my  namesake,  was  a  youth  of  much  promise.  He 
had  quit  the  University  at  Bloomington  to  accompany  two  younger  brothers 
who  enlisted  as  privates  in  the  82d  Ind.,  and  so  great  was  his  solicitude 
for  the  welfare  of  his  brothers,  that  when  I  offered  him  a  place  as  clerk  in 
my  office,  he  declined  on  the  ground  that  they  needed  his  care  and  compan 
ionship. 

My  hospital  is  the  largest  in  the  Department,  and  though  I  am  assist 
ed  by  sixteen  Surgeons,  I  am  kept  as  busy  as  a  nailer.  I  enjoy  the  position 
very  much,  but  could  wish  for  more  time  to  digest  what  I  see,  and  to 
commune  with  my  friends,  many  of  whom,  I  presume,  imagine  I  am  dead. 
It  seems  barely  possible  that  my  quondam  correspondents — Miss  Rebecca 
Comley,  "Lizzie  Johnson,  Fannie  Brown,  etc., — would  so  long  deny  me  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  from  them,  if  they  knew  that  I  was  alive,  and  would 
be  greatly  cheered  by  a  letter  from  any  of  them.  When  one  of  them  shall 
have  the  charge  of  sixteen  hundred  wounded  Soldiers,  I  shall  write  her 
an  epistle  once  a  fortnight  by  way  of  encouragement.  Please  say  this  to 
them  for  me. 

I  feel  some  curiosity  to  know  what  the  people  north  of  the  Ohio  say  of 
McCook  and  Rosecrans'  removal  from  command.  It  was  thought  there 
would  be  great  dissatisfaction  among  the  troops ;  but  it  is  remarkable  how 
soon  they  became  reconciled  to  it.  I  meet  no  one  now  who  does  not  seem 
to  feel  that  the  change  was  for  the  best.  McCook  injured  himself  by  at 
tributing  the  order  (openly)  to  the  fact  that  he  was  not  a  good  enough 
abolitionist,  and  saying  other  things  disrespectful  of  the  administration. 
Rosey  is  still  admired,  but  there  is  a  feeling  that  his  luck  had  turned. 
The  army  has  been  heavily  re-enforced,  and  troops  are  still  arriving  from 
the  East.  A  Brigade  of  New  York  Cavalry  arrived  yesterday,  and  went 
into  camp  near  the  city.  Sherman  got  up  to  Stevenson  with  his  corps  last 
week.  Rousseau  commands  from  the  Cumberland  to  the  Tennessee,  and 
will  soon  have  an  immense  force  of  mounted  men.  His  Headquarters  were 
established  here  to-day.  Dana,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  is  also 
to  have  his  Headquarters  at  Nashville.  Hooker  had  a  sharp  engagement 
yesterday ;  over  150  prisoners  were  brought  up  to-night. 

I  have  a  proposition  which  I  wish  to  make  to  the  good  ladies  of  Day 
ton,  through  you.  It  is  that  they  present  the  female  contrabands  of  the 
Hospital  under  my  charge,  with  new  dresses  on  next  Christmas.  There 
are  about  fifty  of  them  in  all.  They  do  all  the  washing  for  the  wounded 
soldiers,  and  do  it  well  and  cheerfully,  though  miserably  paid,  owing  to  a 
misunderstanding  of  orders  on  the  part  of  the  disbursing  officers.  Some 
of  them  have  been  working  for  the  government  for  the  past  seven  months 
without  receiving  a  cent  of  pay,  and  are  almost  destitute  of  clothing. 
Many  of  them  have  husbands  enlisted  in  our  army;  none  of  them  have 
any  friends  among  the  white  ladies  of  Tennessee,  and  I  wish  them  to  feel 
that  they  have  friends  in  Dayton.  Will  you  and  Dr.  Spees  put  the  needles 
in  motion? 

I  was  glad  to  hear  the  result  of  you  late  election  of  church  officers. 
I  hope  the  elders  elected  accepted.  Give  them  the  right  hand  of  fellow 
ship  for  me,  and  remember  me  affectionately  to  all  the  dear  people  of  the 
dear  old  church. 

TO  HIS  SON  JOHN  AT  YALE. 

"Blessed  are  ye  that  hunger  now". 

My  dear  Son :  Dayton,  O.,  26  Dec.  1864. 

Could  you  get  your  overcoat?      Your  sister  sent  some  money 
to  you,  claiming  she  owed  you  some.    We  find  much  difficulty  in 

126 


getting  the  funds  to  supply  the  expenses  of  two  sons  both  at 
college ;  but  do  not  hesitate  to  write  me  just  how  you  are  situated, 
financially,  at  any  time.  I  do  not  wish  you  to  be  unnecessarily 
straightened;  though  you  cannot  have  the  ample  means  of  some 
of  your  acquaintances.  You  may  see,  by  and  by,  that  "a  man's 
life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he  pos- 
sesseth."  (Lu.  12:15).  "Blessed  are  ye  that  hunger  now"  (Lu. 
6:21).  I  remember  well  the  delight  with  which  I  once  read,  in 
my  student  days  at  Oxford,  the  lofty  and  precious  word  of  Jesus, 
in  Matt.  6 : 19-34,  especially  the  latter  part.  More  than  the  third 
of  a  century  has  passed  since,  having  buried  my  beloved  father, 
my  best  earthly  friend,  I  was  struggling  through  the  remaining 
three  years  of  my  college  course,  on  very  scanty  means  indeed, — 
not  one  hundred  dollars  a  year;  when  my  Heavenly  Father,  in 
those  words  of  his  beloved  Son,  brought  to  my  heart  the  assur 
ance  that  He  would  provide  for  me.  Blessed  be  His  name !  He 
has  abundantly  exceeded  all  my  hopes;  and  I  can  confidently 
commit  you,  and  my  other  dear  ones  to  His  gracious  protection 
and  care. 

*  *  *  *  Mrs.  Galloway's  son  has  returned  home  from  South 
ern  imprisonment  since  the  Chicamauga  fight.  He  looks  well. 
He  saw  Capt.  Franklin  Spencer  well,  the  week  before  he  left 
Columbia,  S.  C. 

TO  HIS  SON. 

From  the  Assembly,  at  St.  Louis, 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  18  May,  1866. 
My  dear  Alfred : 

You  will  not  forget  to  use  all  possible  economy  in  the  expenditure  of 
money.  I  could  not  have  procured  a  suitable  outfit  and  defrayed  expenses 
here,  but  for  the  liberality  of  Mr.  T.  A.  Phillips,  (very  unexpected,  though 
very  characteristic). 

I  have  declined  the  offer  of  the  Presidency  of  Miami  University,  which 
was  tendered  me  by  leading  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees ;  partly  be 
cause  the  salary  would  not  support  my  family,  and  partly  because  the 
family  are  much  attached  to  Dayton. 

FROM  REV.  W.   C.   ANDERSON,  D.  D.,   FORMERLY  PRESIDENT  OF 
MIAMI  UNIVERSITY. 

At  the  Assembly  at  S.t  Louis. 

Cincinnati,  24  May,  1866. 

We  hold  you,  i.  e.,  this  General  Assembly,  responsible  for  the  peace, 
progress,  character,  and  general  future  of  the  old  Presbyterian  Church. 
You  have  begun  nobly ;  all  praise  and  honor  to  the  stand  taken,  in  relation 
to  the  Louisville  Rebels.  Many  thanks  for  your  speech. 

Brother  Thomas,  treason  is  right,  or  it  is  wrong;  the  shedding  of  the 
life's  blood  of  three  hundred  thousand  of  our  brothers  is  right,  or  it  is 
wrong.  The  advocates  of  this  great  fact  are  in  harmony  with  the  mind  of 

127 


Jehovah,  or  they  are  not.  They  ought,  under  the  rules  of  Jehovah's  house, 
to  repent,  or  they  ought  not.  I  have  Boardman's  speech,  in  the  St.  Louis 
Democrat;  and  never  read  a  more  assailable  effusion.  How  I  would  like 
to  take  him  on  his  assumed  positions  and  false  analogies. 

Now,  Brother  Thomas  E.  Thomas,  we  are  looking  to  you,  who  have 
done  so  well  on  the  preliminary  fight,  to  maintain  the  great  principle  of  the 
last  five  Assemblies,  and  give  us  the  argument,  the  appeal  and  all  probable 
and  possible  sequences.  Stand  straight  up  to  the  last  five  Assemblies.  Let 
all  the  Southern  sympathizers  go.  Then  urge  on  union  with  the  New 
School  Presbyterians.  Don't  be  alarmed  by  the  secession  of  the  old  Phil 
adelphia-Princeton  clique  of  pro-slavery  men.  Let  them  go:  they  have 
been  the  deep  curse  of  the  Old  School  church  since  1845.  A  union  with  our 
New  School  brethren,  now  in  perfect  sympathy  with  us.  will  give  us  the 
grandest  organization,  especially  if  we  can  clear  of  the  Hodge- Vandyke- 
Boardman  school  of  Presbyterians.  God  bless  you.  Finish  up  the  work 
that  we  may  have  peace  in  the  future. 

NOTE..  .Rev.  Wm.  C.  Anderson,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Washing 
ton  Co.,  Pa.,  in  1804;  was  graduated  at  Washington  College  in 
1824.  In  1829  he  preached  as  a  missionary  at  the  Forks  of  the 
Yadkin  in  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina:  he  then  became 
agent  of  the  General  Assembly  Board  of  Missions,  and  visited  the 
Presbyteries  in  Tennessee,  Alabama  and  Mississippi:  he  settled, 
as  pastor,  in  New  Albany  in  1839,  and  then  travelled  in  Central 
America.  In  1843  he  became  Professor  of  Ehetoric  in  Hanover 
College;  and  two  years  later  became  pastor  of  the  First  Presby 
terian  Church  in  Dayton,  O.  He  then  went  to  Europe,  and  while 
abroad  was  elected  President  of  Miami  University,  which  work 
he  began  in  the  fall  of  1849,  and  resigned  in  1854.  He  then  be 
came  pastor  at  Chillicothe,  and  removed  thence  to  a  pastorate 
in  San  Francisco,  which  he  resigned  in  1863.  He  died  in  August 
1870  and  was  buried  at  Junction  City,  Kansas. 

Dr.  Anderson  was  a  man  of  tact,  fine  personal  presence  and 
most  genial  companionship.  He  was  successful,  but  not  persist 
ent,  in  all  he  undertook.  Without  controversy  or  contention,  he 
was  a  consistent  anti-slavery  man;  and,  perhaps  more  than  any 
other,  instrumental  in  the  adoption  of  the  "Spring  Resolutions" 
by  the  General  Assembly,  at  Philadelphia,  in  1861.— A.  A.  T. 

TO  REV.  E.  D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D. 

Dr.  MacH  aster  is  replaced  in  his  old  chair  at  the  Seminary. 
"The  mills  of  the  gods  grind  slowly,"  dc. 

Dayton,  Ohio,  11  June,  1866. 
Reverend  and  Honored  Sir, 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  during  its  recent  sessions  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  entrusted  to  us, 
as  a  committee,  the  pleasing  duty  of  informing  you,  that,  by  an  almost 
unanimous  vote,  you  have  been  elected  Professor  of  Didactic  and  Polemic 
Theology,  in  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Northwest,  at  Chicago. 

In  making  this  appointment  the  Assembly  were  persuaded  that  they 
were  rendering  the  highest  service  in  their  power  to  the  cause  of  theolog- 

128 


leal  education  in  our  country.  They  felt,  too,  remembering  your  former 
labors  in  this  western  field,  especially  in  this  department  of  Christian 
work,  that  they  were  permitted,  through  the  singular  favor  of  divine 
providence,  to  perform  an  act  of  signal  justice,  not  so  much  to  yourself,  as 
to  the  Church  at  large,  that,  through  an  influence  now  forever  terminated, 
has  been  so  long  deprived  of  your  service  in  a  department  which  you  are 
pre-eminently  qualified  to  adorn. 

The  Assembly  trusts  that  you  will  accept  the  call  of  the  Church. 
The  salary  attached  to  the  Professorship  is  three  thousand  dollars  a 
year. 

With  sentiments  of  sincere  respect,  and  with  Christian  affection,  we 
remain  Yours,  etc. 

THOMAS  EBENEZEB  THOMAS. 
R.  G.  THOMPSON,  of  Chicago. 
JNO.  C.  GBIEB,  of  Peoria. 

Committee 

TO  REV.  E.  D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D. 

Dayton,  O.,  June  12,  1866. 
My  dear  Brother : 

I  have  just  discharged  an  official  duty  which  should  have 
been  performed  a  week  ago ;  that  of  communicating  to  you  a  for 
mal  notification  of  your  election  as  Professor  of  Didactic  and 
Polemic  Theology  in  the  Seminary  of  the  Northwest  at  Chicago. 
Allow  me  now  to  unbosom  myself,  in  a  more  familiar  style,  upon 
the  occurrence  of  events  which  delighted  the  hearts  of  thou 
sands. 

Your  election  was  another  of  the  measures  which  fixed  the 
character  of  the  Assembly  of  1866.  Providence  had  singularly 
prepared  the  way  for  us.  *  *  *  * 

Such  was  the  composition  of  the  Assembly,  and  such  the 
change  of  public  sentiment  in  these  last  years,  that  the  sugges 
tion  of  your  name  met  very  general  approval.  Mr.  McCormick 
was  soon  aware  that  you  would  be  chosen  by  a  very  large  major 
ity.  Such  was  his  displeasure  at  the  proposed  nomination  of  Dr. 
Lord,  that  he  seemed  disposed  to  accept  Dr.  MacMaster  as  a 
compromise.  He  was>  informed,  however,  very  plainly,  by  such 
Elders  as  Williams  of  Ft.  Wayne  and  Francis  of  Pennsylvania, 
(old  friends),  that  he  must  not  expect  to  be  consulted  by  the  As 
sembly  as  to  the  election  of  our  theological  teachers.  Still,  it 
was  agreeable  to  your  friends  to  find  that,  in  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  he  found  himself  precluded  from  opposition  to  you. 

When  the  election  came  on,  Dr.  Bice,  (who  had  been  nomi 
nated  by  the  elder  of  his  own  church,  Mr.  Da.y ;— and  it  was  said 
that  the  church  would  back  the  nomination  with  a  gift  of  |20,- 
000.),  telegraphed  his  withdrawal.  He  had  not  the  ghost  of  a 
chance.  Dr.  Lord  did  the  same,  for  the  same  reason;  perhaps 
other  reasons.  You  received  over  200  votes. 

It  was  an  old  Greek  saying,  as  you  remember,  that  "the  mills 
of  the  gods  grind  slowly,  'but  they  grind  exceeding  smaU".  Divine 

129 


providence  has  hastened  the  revolutions  of  these  last  days.  Who 
could  have  foreseen  seven  years  ago  so  rapid  a  change  of  situation 
as  that  which  the  North  and  the  South  now  present?  You  pre 
dicted  the  issue,  indeed  as  many  of  us  anticipated  it;  but  when 
you  promised  to  meet  Thornwell  and  Palmer  at  Philippi,  I  think 
you  scarcely  looked  for  so  early  and  so  radical  a  revolution  of 
public  sentiment  as  that  we  now  witness. 

You  will  be  aided  at  Chicago  by  a  valuable  body  of  co-labor 
ers,  in  Drs.  Halsey,  Lord  and  Elliott.  Your  presence  will  draw 
around  the  Seminary  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  Northwest,  and 
of  Indiana  and  Ohio,  as  nothing  else  could.  I  have  no  question 
that  the  number  of  students,  already  encouraging,  will  be  greatly 
increased,  and  the  rapidly  growing  wealth  of  this  region  will 
supply  what  is  needful  toward  endowment. 

I  think  1  need  not  add  further  considerations.  The  eastern 
brethren,  except  a  few  ultra-conservatives,  who  are  fast  finding 
their  level,  are  heartily  for  you.  The  church  feels  that  it  owes 
you  reparation  for  a  long  course  of  injustice;  and,  much  more, 
that  it  owes  to  the  truth,  and  to  the  cause  of  sound  Christian  edu 
cation,  your  restoration  to  that  department  of  labor  for  which 
you  are  so  peculiarly  qualified. 

Ever  truly  yours,  T.  E.  THOMAS. 

FROM  REV.  E.  D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D. 

My  dear  Sir :  Poland,  Ohio,  July  10,  1866. 

I  send  herewith  to  you  a  letter  addressed  to  the  committee  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  which  you  are  chairman,  signifying  my  acceptance  of 
the  appointment  to  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Chicago.  As  a  matter  of 
taste  and  propriety,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  I  should  prefer  a  short  note, 
simply  declaring  my  acceptance.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  there 
has  been  over  the  affair  of  this  Seminary  a  huge  war,  extending  through 
more  years  than  our  great  civil  war,  though  the  war  itself  was  not  of  quite 
as  great  proportions;  and  that  sharp  and  heavy  blows  were  dealt  and 
wounds  inflicted  which  are  not  yet  healed.  With  those  who  are  now  the 
defeated  party  it  is  a  question  of  how  they  are  to  be  regarded  and  treated 
under  the  new  order  of  things.  My  view  is  that  the  truth  which  has  so 
long  been  the  suffering  truth,  has  paramount  rights:  among  other  things, 
the  right  to  assert  itself  to  be  the  truth  and  to  have  always  been  the  truth. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  those  who  in  other  years  acted  so  badly  are  disposed 
now  to  act  rightly,  they  are  not  to  be  repelled,  but  conciliated;  and  least 
of  all  are  petty  revenges  to  be  taken  against  them.  Briefly  to  indicate  this 
as  my  own  view,  and,  so  far  as  I  may  be  regarded  as  made  by  the  late  ap 
pointment  to  the  Seminary  the  representative  of  those  with  whom  I  have 
heretofore  acted,  as  their  view  also,  is  the  object  of  my  letter.  It  seems 
to  be  desirable  that  this  should  be  understood  by  all  concerned,  at  the  out 
set  of  my  connection  anew  with  the  Seminary. 

I  have  found  more  difficulty  in  coming  to  a  conclusion  on  the  question 
of  returning  to  this  service  than  you  may  think.  The  state  of  my  mind  is 
exactly  expressed  when  I  say  that  "I  do  not  see  that  under  all  the  condi 
tions  of  the  question  I  am  at  liberty  to  decline  this  appointment,  and  there 
fore  I  accept  it."  How  unfit  I  feel  myself  for  such  a  work.  He  only  knows 
to  whom  all  things  are  known.  Let  me,  my  dear  brother,  have  the  help 
of  your  prayers. 

130 


FROM  REV.  E.  D.  MACMASTER,  D.  D.,  HIS  LAST  LETTER. 

Hopes  and  plans  for  the  Seminary  at  Chicago: 

Poland,  Ohio,  Aug.  28,  1866. 
My  dear  Brother : 

Your  favor  of  the  7  inst,  came  duly  to  hand  and  was  most  acceptable, 
as  your  letters  always  are. 

You  say  your  people  gave  for  the  endowment  of  the  Theological  Semi 
nary  less  than  you  hoped,  and  you  seem  to  think,  less  than  they  ought. 
I  have  never  thought  what  they,  or  any  other  people  or  person,  were  likely 
to  give.  But  if  I  had  thought  of  it  at  all,  I  should  not  have  expected  a 
larger  sum  than  that  you  name.  I  have  often  thought  that  the  feeling  of 
reluctation  to  part  with  money,  of  men  with  whom  it  has  been  a  large  part 
of  the  business  of  their  lives  to  make  money,  is  probably  not  duly  appreci 
ated  by  persons  who,  like  you  and  myself,  have  never  made  this  any  part 
of  our  business,  and  to  whom  the  obtaining  of  what  was  required  for  nec 
essary  uses  came  as  a  mere  incident  of  other  employments,  and  almost 
without  a  thought  about  it,  except  when,  as  has  sometimes  happened  to  me, 
there  chanced  to  be  a  deficit  of  it  to  meet  present  wants.  However  this 
may  be,  the  Seminary  is  under  obligation  to  your  good  people  for  their 
contribution :  and,  as  the  present  contributions  are  spoken  of  in  connection 
with  the  endowment  of  the  chair  I  am  called  to  occupy,  though  I  expect 
my  usufructuary  interest  in  it  not  to  be  of  very  long  duration,  I  ought  to 
feel  a  special  obligation,  which  I  am  not  indisposed  to  acknowledge.  The 
Seminary  wants  $150.000  to  endow  fifty  scholarships ;  and  $50,000  for 
other  uses,  a  Library  fund,  a  Contingent  fund,  etc.  The  high  cost  of  living 
at  Chicago  necessitates  some  provision  to  reduce  the  expense  to  students. 
It  will  not  do  to  depend  for  this  on  annual  collections.  This  would  involve 
the  expense  of  agency,  and  the  churches  would  become  w^eary  of  annual 
solicitations.  Hence  the  need  of  permanent  funds  for  these  objects. 

But  we  much  more  need  an  increased  activity  in  the  appropriate 
agency  for  finding  a  larger  number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  not  a 
crowd  indiscriminately  gathered,  the  good,  the  bad,  and  indifferent,  but 
such  as  are  called  of  God  to  do  this  work,  and  for  taking  care  OT  their 
culture  and  training  every  way,  in  learning  and  in  the  divine  life,  before 
they  go  to  the  Theological  Seminary  and  while  in  it.  This,  I  think,  is 
now  our  greatest  want.  Will  you  turn  your  thoughts  to  it? 

I  leave  this  place  for  Chicago  to-morrow,  (29th),  via  Pittsburgh  and 
Ft.  Wayne,  and  hope  to  reach  my  destination  on  Monday,  the  3d  of  Sep 
tember.  Somehow  I  do  not  go  with  a  very  bouyant  spirit.  My  temperament 
has  always  disposed  me  to  cleave  to  old  friends  rather  than  to  seek  new 
ones;  and  this,  as  you  will  suppose,  is  not  less  so  now  than  thirty  years 
ago.  I  should  go  with  much  more  satisfaction,  if  you  were  going  also. 
Indeed,  I  feel  in  this  respect  a  dissatisfaction.  You,  as  well  as  I,  were 
proscribed  seven  years  ago,  and  for  the  same  cause:  and  it  is  due  to  yon 
and  the  church  and  the  truth,  that  you  should  be  recalled  to  the  service 
from  which  you  were  then  relieved.  I  have  this  much  at  heart.  I  know 
not  what  may  be  found  practicable  immediately.  Of  course  I  can  do  noth 
ing  inconsistent  with  the  relations  into  which  I  am  put  with  the  professors 
now  in  the  Seminary.  But, — but, — but,  we  must  think  of  this  matter.  We 
ought  to  have  a  fifth  Professor.  Cannot  we  move  for  this  soon? 

Give  my  best  regards  to  Mrs.  T.  and  all  your  house,  especially  my 
friend,  John.  Yours  most  truly, 

E.  D.  MACMASTER. 

131 


The  McCormick  Seminary  at  Chicago.  Sketch  of  its  history  and 
hope.  Remarkable  character  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick.  No 
Political  sense, — but  he  cheapened  tJie  bread  of  the  world. 
"All  the  keys  hang  not  at  one  man's  girdle." 

NOTE.  "The  McCormick  Theological  Seminary"  at  Chicago. 
The  course  which  Dr.  Thomas  said  Dr.  Nathan  L.  Rice  "must  be 
permitted  to  run  at  Chicago"  lasted  just  eighteen  months,  when 
he  left  this  Seminary,  never  to  return.  If  the  times  singularly 
favored  him  in  1859,  a  Nemesis,  in  subsequent  events,  was  quickly 
upon  him ;  for  1861  was  a  bad  time  to  establish  a  pro-slavery  out 
post,  so  far  removed  from  support,  and  in  the  distant  Northwest. 

While  Dr.  Rice  departed,  the  Seminary  remained;  and  a 
few  words  about  this  institution,  destined,  probably,  to  be  the 
first  in  influence  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  will  not  be  out  of 
place.  In  the  best  biography  of  Mr.  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  the 
statement  is  made  that  "he  founded  the  Theological  Seminary  of 
the  Northwest".  He  funded  it,  but  he  did  not  found  it.  This 
correspondence  shows  who  nursed  and  tended  its  infancy  and 
prevented  its  extinction,  or  transfer  to  Danville,  where  it  would 
have  gone  into  practical  or  ultimate  extinction.  Of  course,  every 
body  ought  to  come  to  Chicago  if  he  can,  but  to  see  this  in  1857 
required  more  foresight  than  to  recognize  the  fact  in  1892.  The 
Seminary  might  have  had  an  unexampled  prosperity  had  the 
plans  of  Drs.  Thomas  and  MacMaster  been  carried  out  and  the 
land  then  offered  it, — situate  in  Hyde  Park, — been  accepted. 
That  land  is  now  worth  several  million  dollars:  Dr.  Grey,  Editor 
of  "The  Interior,"  lately  stated,  that  if  this*  property  had  been 
taken  and  held,  the  Seminary  would  have  been  the  wealthiest 
educational  institution  in  the  United  States. 

No  one,  not  even  Dr.  L.  J.  Halsey,  who  has  written  a  yet 
unpublished  history  of  this  Seminary,  has  any  wish  to  narrate  the 
contentions  which  followed  Dr.  Rice's  removal  to  New  York;  so 
bitter  did  they  become,  that  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  released  Mr.  McCormick  from  the  latter  half  of  his 
original  bond  of  donation,  which  was  never  paid.  But,  in  1871. 
Dr.  Halsey  says,  Mr.  McCormick  became  reconciled  to  the  Sem 
inary;  his  liberality  was  renewed  and  repeated,  until,  with  the 
approval  of  all  parties,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  de 
creed  that  the  institution  should  forever  bear  the  name  of  this 
remarkable  man. 

Cyrus  Hall  McCormick,  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  was  born 
in  1809,  in  Rockbridge  County,  Va.  In  1816,  his  father  contrived 
a  machine  which  could  cut  standing  grain.  His  son  followed  the 
line  of  his  father's  old  investigations,  and  found  a  solution  of  his 
problem  in  an  invention  that  gave  a  lateral  as  well  as  a  forward 
motion  furnished  by  the  horse,s;  and,  after  long  difficulty,  prac 
tical  success  came  when  he  gave  the  lateral  motion  by  means  of  a 

132 


crank  to  a  staight  cutting  blade  placed  at  right  angles  to  the 
line  of  draft  of  the  machine.  This  was  in  1831.  In  1839,  his 
Reaper  began  to  go  into  general  use.  In  1845,  he  removed  to  Cin 
cinnati;  here  he  met  Dr.  Nathan  L.  Rice,  prominent  and  active 
in  fighting  the  pro-slavery  conflict  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
which  Mr.  McCormick  was  already  a  member.  In  1847,  he  remov 
ed  to  Chicago,  where,  two  years  later,  his  brothers,  Wm.  S.,  and 
Leander  J.,  joined  him.  With  their  efficient  help  he  quickly 
founded  a  great  fortune  at  Chicago,  at  a  time  when  fortunes  there 
were  neither  numerous  nor  great.  With  great  success  there  came, 
as  there  always  come  in  such  cases,  men  eager  to  seize  upon  and 
dispute  the  right  to  his  inventions.  The  latter  were  indisputable, 
although  they  were  imperfectly  protected  by  patents.  In  the 
litigation  and  printed  controversies  that  ensued,  Mr.  McCormick 
discovered  an  ability,  persistence  and  sagacity  which  was  recog 
nized  throughout  the  business  world  of  Europe  as  well  as  of 
America.  With  the  growth  of  his  strength  and  fortune,  the  poli 
tics,  which  was  then  only  the  slavery  controversy,  of  this  country, 
greatly  interested  him.  He  was  a  staunch,  perhaps  the  best  and 
most  liberal  friend  of  Stephen  A.  Douglass;  in  his  interest  he 
went  to  the  Democratic  Convention  at  Baltimore  in  1860,  and  he 
followed  his  fortunes  up  to  the  day  when  Senator  Douglass  an 
nounced  to  the  people  of  Illionois  that  "the  quickest  road  to  peace 
was  stupendous  preparation  for  war".  Thereafter,  of  all  men 
who  were  purely  business  men,  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  was  perhaps, 
for  a  time,  the  most  dangerous  in  the  United  States.  In  1864, 
during  the  McClellan  canvass,  he  was  candidate  for  Congress,  in 
Chicago,  and  was  defeated  by  the  general  patriotic  uprising  there. 
He  proposed  that  the  democratic  party,  by  convention,  should 
select  a  "commission"  to  meet  a  similar  delegation  from  the  south, 
to  end  the  war  and  restore  the  Union.  Who  can  exaggerate  the 
cost  to  humanity  on  this  continent  of  the  success  of  such  a 
scheme!  It  was  only  refrained  from  by  the  certainty  of  the  arrest 
and  imprisonment  of  any  attempting  to  carry  it  out.  Mr.  McCor 
mick  was  no  Secessionist  or  disunionist;  yet  there  was  no  length 
he  would  not  go,  to  save  his  beloved  institution  of  slavery.  But, 
after  all,  we  must  not  blame  him  too  severely.  He  was  no  worse 
than  thousands  of  good  men  of  his  day,  of  like  opinions.  He  had 
not  fomented  rebellion  or  secession ;  he  was  not  a  politician  or  a 
statesman.  The  fact  is,  with  almost  every  other  merit,  he  had 
no  political  sense.  He  said,  "The  two  strongest  hoops  which  held 
the  Union  together  were  the  Democratic  Party  and  the  Old 
School  Presbyterian  Church."  Strong  hoops  they,  when  the 
strain  came! 

How  true  it  is  that  "all  the  keys  hang  not  to  one  man's  gir 
dle"  !  The  portrait  of  McCormick  hangs  in  the  hall  of  the  insti 
tution  he  endowed,  and  no  one  caji  help  liking  that  face.  His 
memory  is  held  high  in  honor  among  citizens  of  this  community 

133 


whose  opinion  is  most  worth  asking.  He  was,  indeed,  one  of  the 
great  captains  of  industry.  His  invention,  developed  by  himself 
and  others,  directly,  and  by  countless  indirect  ways,  enriched  the 
whole  Northwest.  More  than  this  I  place  to  his  honor;  for  he 
probably  did  more  than  any  other  one  man  who  ever  lived  to 
cheapen  the  bread  of  the  world. — A.  A.  T. 


TO  HIS  DAUGHTER— MRS.  EDWIN  A.   PARROTT. 

On  his  son's  graduation  at  Dartmouth  College.     Things  liked, 
and  disliked. 


Mr.  Jabez  Fisher's,  Washington,  N.  H.,  23  July,  1807. 
My  dear  Mary  May : 

Your  mother  and  I  reached  Hanover,  as  you  may  have  heard  from  the 
children,  by  Saturday  noon.  Alfred  met  us  at  the  cars,  and  took  us  direct 
ly  to  Dr.  Noyes.  The  Professor,  wife,  and  daughter,  constitute  the  family ; 
though  the  younger  son  and  wife  were  home  on  a  visit.  We  could  not 
have  fallen  on  a  pleasanter  home  for  a  few  days.  Dr.  Noyes  has  been  the 
theological  Professor  at  Dartmouth  for  seventeen  years.  He  is  one  year 
older  than  I  am ;  a  quiet,  thoughtful,  scholarly  man,  with  a  pleasant  humor 
running  through  his  lighter  conversation.  We  had  many  delightful  talks. 
reminding  me  of  my  long  conversations  with  Dr.  MacMaster  at  New  Al 
bany. 

The  commencement  exercises  were  highly  creditable.  Monday  evening 
was  occupied  with  prize  declamation.  I  was  one  of  those  who  composed 
the  committee  to  award  the  prizes.  Tuesday  was  Class-day,  as  they  call  it ; 
the  exercises  being  such  as  are  appointed  by  the  graduating  class.  An 
Oration,  and  Poem ;  with  Chronicles  and  Prophecies  relating  to  the  college 
history,  and -future  career  of  the  class,  occupied  several  hours.  The  Chron 
icles  and  Prophecies  were  flat,  and  unworthy  of  the  occasion ;  the  wit 
being  such  as  could  be  appreciated  only  by  the  students ;  and  the  general 
tone  of  the  pieces  rather  low.  The  first  two  pieces,  however,  were  admir 
able..  Wednesday  was  devoted  to  the  orations  of  invited  guests.  Dr.  Quint 
of  Newburyport  addressed  the  theological  society.  I  did  not  hear  him ; 
having  driven  over  the  mountains  for  ten  or  twelve  miles  that  morning, 
and  feeling  disposed  to  rest.  Theodore  Til  ton,  editor  of  the  New  York  In 
dependent,  delivered  the  address  to  the  Societies..  He  spoke  without  notes. 
His  style  was  not  superior  to  many  extempore  efforts  I  have  heard  in  Ohio 
— his  delivery  rather  energetic  than  graceful — and  on  the  whole  falling 
below  what  I  had  expected.  The  matter  of  his  discourse  was  deadly  poi 
son;  shallow,  conceited,  pretentious,  and  false.  His  theme  was  Mental 
and  Moral  Self-culture.  He  began  by  saying  that  we  had  done  what  the 
Psalmist  thought  impossible!  "We  have  bound  the  sweet  influences  of 
Pleiades  ;" — quoting  the  language  of  the  Almighty,  (Job  38-31)  as  the  utter 
ance  of  the  Psalmist.  His  whole  discourse  substituted  self-culture  for 
spiritual  renovation.  It  was  a  scarcely  concealed  infidelity,  from  beginning 
to  end :  a  sad  result  of  Ward  Beecher's  religious  teaching.  And  this  man 
was  for  years  the  superintendent  of  Beecher's  sabbath  school ! 

Your  affectionate  father, 

T.  E.  THOMAS. 

« 

134 


TO   HIS    SON. 

"The  General  Assembly  of  1871.    Chicago  seen  from  two  points 
of  view. 

My  dear  Alfred :  Chicago,  111.,  26  May,  1871. 

I  returned  yesterday  from  our  Presbyterian  Assembly's  excursion  to 
Lake  Forest.  Almost  all  the  body  went,  and  friends  increased  the  crowd 
to  about  two  thousand.  Over  sensitive  people  may  possibly  condemn  a 
venerable  body  like  a  General  Assembly  for  spending  a  day  in  such  frivol 
ous  employment  as  excursions  and  collations  and  speechmaking ;  but  who 
ever  will  sit  six  hours  a  day  in  the  Assembly,  for  a  week ;  and  spend  no 
small  part  of  the  outside  hours  in  committee  work ;  besides  conducting 
correspondence  and  holding  important  interviews  with  scores  of  people, 
friends  and  strangers ;  will  vote  for  such  a  recreation  as  we  enjoyed  yester 
day  with  a  clear  conscience,  and  hearty  good  will. 

Mr.  Mayor  Farwell,  the  merchant  prince  of  Chicago;  himself  a  Meth 
odist,  but  his  wife  a  Presbyterian;  planned  the  trip,  and  footed  the  bills. 
This  was  Chicago-like.  If  he  desired  to  show  a  few  special  friends  his 
house  and  grounds,  it  was  excusable ;  for  they  have  few  rivals  in  the 
West;  and  his  private  library  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  valuable  in 
the  country.  You  may  find  an  account  of  the  trip  under  the  title  of  "Edit 
orial  Correspondence"  in  the  next  Herald  and  Presbyter ;  for  my  room 
mate,  Dr.  Monfort,  being  prevented  from  writing,  just  now,  by  a  boil  on 
his  right  hand,  I  have  consented  to  supply  his  lack  of  service  by  a  letter. 
It  was  written,  however,  at  10  p.  m.,  after  our  return  from  the  trip,  having 
been  on  our  feet  most  of  the  time  since  9  a.  m. 

Chicago  will  be  admired,  or  execrated,  according  to  the  point  of  view 
from  which  you  regard  it.  If  a  colored  Jehu,  with  a  glossy  hat  and  white 
gloves,  in  a  velvet  coat  and  light  inexpressibles,  drive  yon  in  an  elegant 
barouche,  with  a  charming  Chicago-enne  beside  you,  to  point  out  the  ele 
gant  gentleman's  seats — it  is  no  matter  which  noun  the  adjective  qualify 
— and  her  husband,  the  happy  proprietor  of  numberless  land — and  water — 
lots,  before  you,  to  indicate  the  rapid  steps  of  the  city's  growth  by  the 
ever  appreciating  value  of  the  properties  you  pass ; — if  he  drive,  I  say,  at 
a  dashing  pace  down  Michigan  Avenue,  and  up  Wabash,  between  the  long 
lines  of  massive,  marble  palaces,  adorned  with  all  that  wealth  can  procure ; 
remember,  however,  that  real  happiness  is  an  article  not  to  be  found  in 
any  of  Chicago's  princely  shops — for  sale,  I  mean ; — if  you  roll  over  the 
Nicholson  boulevard  pavement,  with  broad  sidewalks  on  each  side,  flanked 
by  grassy  lawns  and  overhanging  trees ; — you  will  pronounce  Chicago,  next 
to  New  York,  the  most  brilliant  product  of  American  skill  in  the  art  of 
city-building ;  and  readily  crown  her  the  Queen  of  the  Prairies ! 

But  if  you  ride  or  walk  for  miles,  as  we  did  yesterday,  beyond  the 
inky,  stinking,  horrible  Styx,  which  they  call  "Chicago  River" ;  through  an 
endless  series  of  frame  houses,  resting  in  the  mud;  separated  by  streets 
of  natural  earth,  cut  up  even  now  into  deep  ruts,  and  knee-deep  in  mud; 
into  streets  guiltless  of  sidewalk  or  shade  tree ;  the  young  inhabitants  bare 
foot  and  bareheaded,  and  unkempt  and  unwashed,  and  almost  undressed, 
crawling  like  tadpoles  in  the  slime  of  their  native  pools ;  the  older, — every 
woman  with  a  babe  on  her  arms,  and  every  man  with  a  sign  of  his  handi 
craft  ;  if  you  saw  cows  milked  on  sidewalks  of  board,  because  the  street 
was  too  muddy  to  be  hazarded ;  if  you  surveyed  the  miles  on  miles  of  squal 
or  and  poverty  and  wretchedness  rolled  on  a  dead  level,  and  prepared  by 
such  an  endless  variety  of  smells  that  a  friend  yesterday  said  the  census  of 
them  should  be  published  among  the  statistics  of  Chicago, — you  would  re 
port  that  this  famous  city  is  the  filthiest  stew  of  human  cattle  you  ever 
had  the  misfortune  to  visit ! 

Respect  to  Judge  Jordan.  Affectionately  your  Father, 

THO.  E.  THOMAS. 
135 


TO  REV.  JOSEPH  G.  SYMMES,  D.  D. 

Failing  strength.     Thinks   the  success  of   the  Apostles  due  to 
immediate  training  of  the  Master. 

Middlebury,  Vt,  18  Aug.  1874. 

Many  thanks   for  your   repeated  and   pressing  invitations. 

I  have  been  troubled  with  irregularity  of  the  liver  since 
April.  Till  I  came  here  the  downward  progress  was  steady. 
Since  I  came,  that  has  been  arrested,  and  the  tide  turned.  I  am 
told  there  is  no  organic  disease,  nor  any  reason  for  a  permanent 
disability.  It  is  my  expectation  that  the  seaside  will  complete 
what  the  mountain  air  has  begun.  I  hope  to  return  home  by  the 
middle  of  September :  our  Seminary  term  opens  at  Lane  on  Sept. 
9th,  but  I  may  conclude  to  spend  the  latter  part  of  September  at 
Red  Sulphur  Springs,  Va.  In  that  case,  I  shall  pass  over  the 
New  Jersey  road  on  my  way  to  Washington,  and  nothing  would 
delight  me  more  than  to  meet  you  once  more.  I  long  to  talk  with 
you  over  the  past,  and  especially  the  future. 

The  Kingdom  of  our  blessed  Lord  is  assailed  on  every  side, 
and  worst  of  all,  from  within,  and  must  fight  a  fierce  battle  be 
fore  the  final  victory  comes.  Come  it  will,  and  glorious  will  be 
the  reward  of  those  of  you  who  shall  be  called  of  God  to  bear 
testimony  for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  against  a  gainsaying 
and  godless  generation.  Not  that  all  generations  since  the  fall 
have  not  deserved  the  description;  but  the  Scriptures  intimate 
that  in  the  last  days,  perilous  times  shall  come,  (2  Tim.  3:1-9, 
and  2  Thess.  2 :  etc.).  Certainly  the  signs  of  the  times,  while  dis 
playing  a  wider  diffusion  of  the  gospel  than  ever,  also  exhibit  an 
unwonted  outbreak  of  hostility  to  sound  doctrine;  of  contempt 
for  the  Word  of  God;  of  bold,  unblushing  infidelity,  as  well  as 
cool,  audacious  atheism.  Well,  "The  Lord  reigneth:  let  the 
earth  rejoice" !  If  "Clouds  and  darkness  are  bound  about  Him", 
we  are  also  sure  that  "Righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  hab 
itation  of  His  throne". 

The  Lord  raise  up  and  qualify  a  multitude  of  faithful  men, 
able  to  teach  others,  being  themselves  taught  of  the  Lord !  Was 
not  the  unparalleled  success  of  the  Apostles  due  to  the  immediate 
training  which  they  had  received  from  our  Divine  Master?  Oh, 
that  He  would  condescend  once  more  to  train  His  own  servants 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry ! 

Mrs.  T.  joins  me  in  affectionate  remembrance  of  Mrs.  Symmes 
and  yourself  and  family. 

NOTE.  Rev.  Joseph  G.  Symmes  grew  up  on  a  farm  in  But 
ler  County,  O. ;  joined  Dr.  Thomas's  church  in  Hamilton ;  attended 
Farmers'  College,  and  with  his  mother  and  brother  removed  to 
Hanover,  Ind.,  in  order  to  attend  the  college  there.  His  mother 
died  of  the  visitation  of  cholera,  which  carried  off  Dr.  Scovel,  the 

136 


President  of  the  institution.  Mr.  Symmes  was  there  in  attend 
ance  when  Dr.  Thomas's  Presidency  began.  He  and  my  father,  as 
teacher  and  pupil,  always  maintained  the  warmest  friendship. — 
A.  A.  T. 


TO  HIS  SON.     HIS  LAST  LETTER. 

Kemper  Lane,  Walnut  Hills,  Cin'ti,  O.,  18  Dec.  1874. 
My  dear  John : 

You  know,  perhaps,  that  ever  since  I  came  home,  I  have  been 
aiding  Dr.  Smith  in  reviewing  his  translation  of  Spinoza's 
Ethica,  the  celebrated  source  of  modern  pantheism.  The  Doctor 
reads  his  version,  while  I  follow  the  Latin  original  to  correct  any 
slips  of  the  eye,  or  pen;  which  are  wonderfully  few,  to  be  sure. 
I  enjoy  the  work,  for  it  has  given  the  impulse  to  review  former 
studies  in  this  line;  as  Cicero  says;  retuli  me  *  *  *  *  ad  ea 
studio,,  quae,  retenta  animo,  remissa  temporibus,  longo  intervallo 
intermissa,  revocavi.  (Tusc.  Quaest.  1:1.)  I  began  with  Spi 
noza's  Summary  of  Des  Cartes,  his  master;  with  Kant's  Critique 
of  Pure  Reason;  and  with  Chalybaus  History  of  Speculative 
Philosophy — from  Kant  to  Hegel.  These  I  read  pari  passu,  at 
quiet  intervals.  *  *  * 

Our  love  to  all.  Affectionately  your  Father, 

"  THO.  E.  THOMAS. 


OBIIT  FEBRUARY  2,  1875 


137 


THIS   BOOK   IS  DUE   ON   THE   LAST  DATE 
STAMPED   BELOW 

RENEWED  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  IMMEDIATE 
RECALL 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-35m-7,'62(D296s4)458 


2^0090 


Thomas,  T.E. 
Correspondence* 


Call  Number: 


EUU9 


The 


ma  s 


T4&8 


250090 


